Wrath of the Sun
by Super Klonoa
Summary: On an errand from his restaurant boss, Klonoa goes to the City of Water, Soleanna. After finishing the errand, the city gets attacked by an unknown force, and Super Klonoa is tasked with saving both Soleanna, and the world once again. Complete. R&R.
1. The Darkness Emerges

Super Klonoa Unleashed

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Wrath of the Sun

by Super Klonoa

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Characters © SEGA and Namco Bandai

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

The City of Water... Soleanna.

This coastal, monarchial city was not only as urban as it could be, but it was also religious, and somewhat medieval as well. Every year, the city would hold the Festival of the Sun, in order to praise and worship their religious deity: the Eternal Sun God, the one Living Flame of Hope... Solaris.

The city's monarchial ruler for the past ten years is Princess Elise III...and alone has she ruled the city, ever since her father, the Duke of Soleanna, passed away.

However, no one knows what truly happened to the Duke ten years ago...and because of his fatal mistakes, a secret now lies within Elise herself. A secret that, if it is ever released, could bring about the end of the world as we know it...

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Ch.1: "The Darkness Emerges"

"A Worldwide Pizza Delivery Trip"

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

9:00a.m. Empire City. Algon District, on top of Danny's Restaurant

The morning sun was in the sky, shining its light upon this always-busy city. As it was everyday, people were strolling by on the sidewalks, traffic was doing its usual rounds, and the trains were rolling across their heightened railroads above the streets themselves.

On the roof of Danny's Restaurant lay one long-eared, black-and-white cat...and he had just woken up, now sitting on the roof.

"...mmmm."

Klonoa was stretching his arms wide, having woken up from a long, good sleep on the restaurant roof. As usual, the cat was his usual naked-but-furred self, with his gloves, shoes, and collar on. His hat was on the ground next to him.

After stretching, he opened his eyes and looked ahead at the city and happenings with a smile.

"Good morning, Empire City! Man..."

Picking up his blue hat and putting it on, Klonoa stood up from the ground. Sighing happily after a second, he went to the edge of the roof and looked below.

"Time to eat and do some work! ...hm!"

Jumping down and landing onto the sidewalk, Klonoa turned around to face the restaurant, entering it through the already-open doorway.

Inside, there were already several people sitting at their tables, eating their breakfast. From the entrance, the cat headed over to the cash register ahead of him, with a few people lined up in front of him.

But as he went past the line of people to the cash registrant...

"...hm?"

...he stopped and noticed something to his right, at one of the people lined up, who appeared to be a teenage male, casually dressed in all black. In the left pocket of the teen's jeans was something that looked metallic...

Looking at it...Klonoa grew suspicious and faced the teen.

"Um, what is that in your pocket there?" he asked.

Noticing and hearing Klonoa, the teen suddenly looked nervous... He eventually started to tremble with fear on his face, with his eyes slowly looking back and forth between Klonoa and ahead.

"...hm, you're obviously hiding something bad in there... Don't think I don't know. Your face even shows it." said Klonoa, looking semi-determined. "Well, why don't you pull it out so that everyoneX.X.X.X.X.X.X"

Without warning, out of pure fear, the teen quickly pulled the thing out and tried to shoot it at the cat...but to the teen's great surprise, the cat quickly, swiftly caught the bullet with his right hand in a split second. And as he held it, his arm's fur was no longer black. It was golden yellow.

"Nice try..."

As the people of the restaurant immediately looked due to the loud sound of the pistol gunshot, a spiky-banged, golden yellow, long-eared cat now stood there in a stance, having just caught the bullet. He stood up straight, opened the palm of his hand, and looked at the bullet with his slanted, dark blue eyes.

"...but that was a waste."

Tossing the bullet away, Super Klonoa then looked at the teen. But as soon as he looked, the teen quickly moved and ran for the exit, pushing people aside.

"Not so fast! Hm!"

With an aiming thrust of his right hand towards the fleeing teen, the golden cat quickly summoned two rings of golden energy that quickly appeared around and trapped the teen's upper body, making him stumble and fall right before he exited.

"Stay there, will you? Hmph."

Lowering his hand and now that the teen was trapped, Klonoa turned, went on to, and stopped near the cash registrant, who was looking at the teen, surprised.

"That kid had a gun on him?" she asked.

"Yeah. Don't know what he was trying to do here, but he's all yours to call the cops on."

"...I'll call them right away, then."

She grabbed the phone on her desk in front and began to dial the number.

"...and let Danny know that I'm here, ready to work, by the way." Klonoa said, smiling.

The registrant nodded as she put the phone to her ear.

Klonoa turned to his right and walked past the people to the employee door, entering it.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

10:00a.m.

After doing an hour of service, Klonoa now rested at a table by the large glass window, with his red bowtie on instead of his collar, and still in Super form. With his hat on the table, he was resting with his hands together behind his head, with half of the sunlight reflecting on him from outside.

He continued to rest...until he felt that his golden spiky hair bangs were being pushed down by someone.

"...huh?"

Opening his eyes, Klonoa noticed that an old, gray-haired, slightly obese man was touching his bangs. The man was wearing a red shirt and long, dark green pants; the same colors as the restaurant itself. He had short hair, a big nose, black eyes, and a gray mustache.

"Always spiked up when Super, eh?" asked the man, smiling.

The cat smiled and nodded. "Yep, they stay that way, Danny."

Chuckling, the man let go of the bangs. "Just like Super Sonic. The golden fire of justice!"

"...golden fire... Yep, pretty much."

Moving over to the opposite end of the table, Danny sat down in the other chair.

"What's up?" asked Klonoa. "Just want to have a chat with me?"

"Well, sort of... You doing everything okay here?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just like every other day in the world, serving your customers here... But...I'm kinda getting the feeling that you got something for me to do... Is it?" asked the cat, his smile having faded away.

"...heh heh, your feelings are spot-on, alright... Well, yeah, I definitely have something for you to do, Klonoa."

"I knew it. Hm... Well, what is it, then? Help you gather some ingredients like last time, or...?"

"...actually, its not that, and its not a local errand, either... I'm still full on ingredients, actually, since the last time you went for them... Rather...this is something that requires the use of your Super form, Klonoa. Since you can fly and all..."

"Oh?"

"Mm-hmm."

Danny leaned back on the chair and looked out the window to his left, with Klonoa sitting up straight in his chair.

"You see, I have a friend of mine, who lives in a different part of this world." said the man. "You can say that he's one of my best friends, as he and I go a long ways back. We both talk to each other frequently as well, on the phone and all. Big talkative guy, he is... And did I mention that he loves pizza? It's his favorite food."

"He does?"

"Yep, especially my style of pizza. Man, out of every kind of pizza out there, he loves mine the most, what with all the extra cheese and toppings and whatnot on it. Heh heh, I still remember his face the last time he ate my pizza. He was crazy-looking, that's for sure! Heh heh heh!"

"So he's basically nuts over it, huh?" Klonoa asked, smiling.

The man laughed with joy. "Nuts, indeed! ...ahhh, man... But...it's actually been a long time since he last ate my pizza, Klonoa."

"Oh, really?"

Nodding, the man looked at the cat, leaning forward and putting his hands together on the table.

"The thing is, he phoned me this morning, telling me that his fiftieth birthday is coming up. I told him that's great and then asked him about what he's gonna do for it and stuff. Said he was just gonna have a simple party at his house and that's it... I said to him that I wish I could be there and bring him his favorite pizza and all, but...you know, gotta take care of my restaurant here in Empire City... Hm."

"Well, that's true...but it also sucks that you can't go and visit him, though." said the cat.

"I know, I know... Ah, but then...I thought of you, Klonoa."

"Huh?"

"Yeah. Thinking of you gave me an idea... I mean, if I can't go, could I at least send my pizza to him? As a birthday gift from me?"

At this, Klonoa stared at him. Then...

"...oh, I see where this is going." said Klonoa, smiling.

"Yeah... And now, I must ask of you... Klonoa, or should I say, Super Klonoa...would you be my 'mail delivery boy' and bring a box of my specialized pizza over to him? Since you are one of my employees and all, it'd be very, very much appreciated if you would do this for me. Heck, I'll even give you a raise for it. What do you say?"

"...heh, a worldwide pizza delivery trip, huh? Sure, I'd be more than happy to do it, Danny!"

The man chuckled happily. "Good! I knew you'd do it."

Danny stood up from the table. "Alright, then, guess I'll go and prepare it, then! I want this delivered ASAP!"

"Alright... Where does this guy live, by the way?"

"Oh, you'll know the details as soon as the pizza's finished, Klonoa." said the man as he walked away.

"Oh, okay, then."

As the man went into the red employee door ahead, Klonoa looked out the window.

"Hm, guess I should continue working until he's done, then."

Standing up from his seat, the golden cat picked up and put his blue hat on. And just then...

"Uh, excuse me, Klonoa." said the woman at one of the tables to his left, wanting him to come.

"Oh, coming!"

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

11:30a.m.

Inside the employee area, Klonoa had just finished bringing in dirty kitchenware and dumping them into the water at one of the kitchen sinks. At where he was now, the cooking area was to his right, with the human employees cooking and preparing various food as he looked.

"Looks like he's done with the pizza."

He turned and walked over to where Danny was, placing the pizza into a white box.

"...looks delicious as always." said the cat, floating up a bit in the air and looking down at the hot, tasty-looking pizza. Since he was only three feet tall, it was hard for him to see the food up on the table in the past, before he acquired the Super form a while back.

"Yep, as always." said Danny, smiling at the pizza. He then closed the box.

"So where does your friend live? What place am I going to?" asked Klonoa, looking at him.

"He lives in Soleanna, the City of Water... Heard of it?"

"Uh...no. That's the first I've heard of it... Where is it, exactly?"

"Well, you know where Spagonia is, right? It's southeast of that, by the southern coast. Has a giant castle on an island next to it, you can't miss it if you're in the air."

"A castle...? Is it just some kind of historical landmark or...?"

"Well, Soleanna's actually a city with a ruling monarch. One of the few left in the world that has an actual king or queen ruling over it... Though, it's a princess that's currently ruling it... You'll find out more when you get there, and if you'd like, feel free to explore it after you deliver the pizza."

"Hm, alright."

"Here..."

Danny pulled out a small white card from one of his pockets and handed it over to Klonoa.

"This is my friend's, Lenny's, home address. As it says, his home's in the Castle Town part of the city. It's like the residential district of the city."

"Alright." Klonoa grabbed the card and looked at it. "Okay, so should I go now or...?"

"Uh, actually, before you go..."

"Yeah?" the cat looked at him.

"About Soleanna... Well, lately, I've been hearing strange rumors about it..." Danny said, looking worried.

"Huh? Like what?"

"Oh, I dunno... Something about a top-secret science project gone horribly wrong ten years ago, and that the princess' father died because of it... I dunno, but I got a bad feeling about that city thanks to those rumors."

"...huh... Hmm..."

Klonoa looked a bit suspicious at this. Just then, Danny smiled at him.

"But hey, even if something does go bad in that city, at least you and Super Sonic will be around to stop it and save the city, right? Especially you in particular, Klonoa. I thought you'd only protect this city when you first showed your Super form a while back, but you proved otherwise by saving not only this city, but the world as well! From that giant octopus thing in the sky!"

Hearing him, Klonoa chuckled and looked down, grinning.

"...well, yeah... I DID save the world after all... All by myself, too... Never thought I'd save it all by myself, but..."

Bringing it up, the cat looked at his right hand, smiling at it.

"...as soon as I saw the Adephagos in the sky, I thought of needing Sonic to help me against it. But then, I was reminded of the abilities I had learned about since that morning, that there's so much potential to be had with this Super form... From that point on, I knew I could save this world without Sonic's help, just like how I saved those dream worlds all by myself as the Dream Traveler..."

He looked ahead, lowering his hand.

"And so I did."

"Yeah, with that huge beam of blue light that you used to destroy it."

"Yep." nodded Klonoa.

Danny chuckled.

"Ah...well, then, you're free to go, Mr. Super Klonoa. Good luck, and have fun visiting Soleanna."

Turning to his right, the man walked past the cat.

"Oh, and you can stop wearing that bowtie now, by the way." said the man.

"Alright!"

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Having put the pizza box and the card into the safe comfort of his Wind Ring, the golden long-eared cat exited through the alley door, with his regular collar on.

Looking up at the blue sky, with a burst, Klonoa powered up, with his golden energy particle aura around him, majestically moving his long ears around.

"Southeast of Spagonia, huh? Okay! Time to go deliver this pizza, then! Hm!"

With a grunt, Klonoa blasted off to the sky, shooting himself into a different direction afterwards as golden energy trailed from behind him.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

1:00p.m.

After an hour and a half of flying all over the world, high above in the sea of clouds at a steady flight speed...as he soon went out of the clouds and into a wide open area, Klonoa finally saw his destination below.

"...that must be it right there..."

What he saw below was what looked like a city that was split into two distinct, district sections on the continental southern coast. On the city's northern side was a huge sprawling metropolis of tall buildings, much like Empire City itself. On its southern side, however, was a town-like area of smaller buildings of Spagonia-inspired design, in contrast to the huge gray metropolis.

And near the town, on the sea itself, was what appeared to be a giant white castle, situated on a single isle.

"A castle... Yeah, that must be Soleanna! ...heh, well, time to descend, then."

Powering up a bit, Klonoa blasted off downwards at a faster speed, approaching the city below.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Soleanna, Castle Town

In contrast to the towering metropolis on the other side, Castle Town, at a glance, looked just like the average residential district of a city or a small town, as its name would imply. Streets were lined up with buildings and houses of varying sizes, miniature outdoor shops, several dining tables, and of course, people. Throughout the area, water from the ocean was calmly coursing through in various river streams and lakes, with some people rowing their boats in them. Indeed, Soleanna wasn't called the City of Water for nothing.

Over at one of the docks near the ocean, a man was silently fishing at the edge of the dock, sleeping while his lure was in the water. The fisherman snored on, until the sound of someone calmly landing behind him woke him up, along with a constant "ssssshhhhh" sound.

Calmly grunting and looking back, he found a golden yellow, long-eared cat standing with constant energy coming out of him from all sides that was making his long ears move majestically along with it.

The man made a sound of awe, seeing the golden cat behind him. The energy aura, and its sound, soon faded away. Hearing something, Klonoa looked back.

"Oh, hey there. Sorry if I disturbed your fishing." the cat said, smiling and waving hello to the fisherman.

Klonoa then looked ahead, observing the place.

"So this is Soleanna, huh? Pretty place. Looks like a good vacation spot, too... Hmm, if that's the metropolis on the other side, then this must be..."

Summoning his Wind Ring in his right hand with a bright flash and with the green gem glowing bright blue, he pulled out the white card and looked at it.

"...Castle Town... Alright, then. I just need to find the right house and deliver the pizza. Hmm..."

He observed the place again, then...

"Wonder if that guard or policeman over there can show me directions?"

Standing at the end of the dock in the direction of the town itself was a man dressed in a blue Soleannan uniform, wearing a tall blue hat as well. Decorated on his uniform was a silver metallic medal, depicting of a majestic winged bird with an orb on top of its beak.

With his hands together behind his back, the guard was facing the direction to the left of the docks, to Klonoa's left. As the guard heard someone walking to his own left...

"...oh..."

...he looked at who it was, now standing near him. A second after, the guard recognized him, looking surprised.

"...hey...you must be...!"

"Yep. Klonoa the Cat! A.k.a. Super Klonoa!" exclaimed the cat, smiling.

"Huh... Uh, wow, it's, uh, a surprise to see you here, Mr. Klonoa! The whole world's been talking about you a lot recently! Even the Princess herself here."

The guard faced him.

"It's an honor to meet you and see you here, Klonoa." he said, elegantly bowing to the cat and standing up afterwards. "By all means, what brings you to the City of Water here?"

Looking at the white card, Klonoa handed it over.

"I'm on an errand for someone. Could you tell me where this guy is?"

The guard grabbed the card and read it.

"Lenny Dartz, 117 Spartan Street. Ah, yes."

Looking right and giving the card back, the guard pointed in that direction.

"It's down that way. Take the second street down on the right side. That's the street you're looking for."

"Oh, alright. Thanks!"

"No problem."

The cat faced his left and began to hover a bit above the ground.

"Enjoy your time here, Mr. Klonoa!"

Nodding over to him, the golden cat then flew off.

As he slowly flew in the air past the buildings, Klonoa observed his surroundings. As he went past by them, many people noticed him, with some of them surprised to see him. Taking the second street as instructed, he flew for a bit and then landed, walking onwards and looking left and right for the designated house.

"117...117... ...ah."

Directly to his left, Klonoa stopped and faced the house he found.

"This must be it."

The house he now faced was two-storied, brown, and of the same design like most of the houses on this street, with a front porch.

With the Ring still in hand, Klonoa summoned up the pizza box, now holding it up with his left hand, with the white card underneath.

"Time for delivery, then."

Putting the Ring back inside of him, the golden long-eared cat stepped up to the porch and onwards to the door. After a second, he knocked on the door a few times.

Waiting for it, the door finally opened, and an old, skinny, mustached man now stood in the doorway, wearing a gray sweater and red sweat pants.

"Special delivery from Danny's Restaurant!" greeted Klonoa. "Your favorite pizza, made just for you and your birthday!"

The old man suddenly looked happy at this.

"Ah, its Danny's delivery boy! Not to mention the golden floppy-eared hero as well! Just as he promised! ...ha ha ha! Hand it over to me, son."

Klonoa lended it over. The old man opened the box, smelling the greatness of the pizza and looking really happy.

"Ha ha ha! Yep, this is Danny's grand work, alright!"

Closing the box, he grinned at the cat.

"Thank you! Thank you, Klonoa! I'll be sure to call Danny that you've successfully delivered the pizza."

"Heh, no problem. Just felt like doing a favor for a friend."

"I'll bet! ...would you like to come in and eat, by the way?"

"Oh, no thanks. I'm not really hungry right now."

"Ah, alright, then. Then I'll go and store this pizza in the fridge for tonight's party... Well, thanks again for delivering, Klonoa!"

The cat nodded. "Enjoy that pizza, will you?"

"Ha ha, I will! Bye!"

The man closed the door, and the cat turned around, jumping down from the porch.

Sighing happily, Klonoa looked at the card still in his hand.

"Guess I don't need this anymore."

Tossing it away, he then looked around...and then he looked up, hovering a bit and now flying straight up, stopping high in the air.

"Time to explore at my own pace, then. Hmm..."

Turning around, as he looked at the entire Castle Town area...a thought came into his head, turning his smile into a frown.

"...Danny said something happened here ten years ago that made him feel bad about this place... A science project gone horribly wrong that killed the Princess' father..."

Thinking about it, Klonoa looked to his left, at the castle nearby on the isle.

"Hmm, I wonder what that project was? Hopefully, it wasn't anything illegal that they did."

Looking back down at the area...he now set his sights on something below, situated in the middle of a lake. Deciding to take a look, the cat then flew down towards it.

Landing down on one of the streets below, Klonoa looked ahead and walked towards the lake, stopping in front of the black, see-through barricade. Situated in the middle of the lake was a set of three very large torches, one larger than the two below it. Three white rails were extended from the torches, one on each, that all lead to the bottom where a fourth, smaller torch was visible.

"...I wonder what those torches are for?"

A guard standing to Klonoa's right, a few feet away, overheard him, facing him and recognizing who he was.

"Ah, Klonoa! Didn't expect to see you here."

"Huh?"

The cat looked as the guard walked to him and stopped.

"Came here to sightsee Soleanna, eh? Like usual?" the guard asked.

"...well, yeah." replied Klonoa, looking at the torches ahead. "That, and I was on a pizza delivery trip for a friend of mine back in Empire City."

"Ah... Pizza, huh? It's kinda a specialty here in this city."

"Really? Well, that explains it... Hey, uh...what can you tell me about this place? The City of Water? And what are those torches for in the lake there?" asked the cat, nodding over to them.

The guard turned and faced the torches.

"Ah, that... Hmm, where to begin...? Ahem... Soleanna, the City of Water, is a city with a monarchial government, instead of a democratic one like most nations of this world. And at the center of our government lies our history and religion... It is said that a thousand years ago, a being known as the Eternal Sun God, Solaris, once gave birth to this city, and shaped it in his own image and vision. To accomplish this, Solaris searched for and chose a few select people from various parts of the world. These chosen ones once had the lives of living in poverty in their original homes, and thus were offered by Solaris the opportunity to live better lives. Salvation, if you want to put it that way... Since the people, of course, saw him as a god who gave them hope, they agreed with the Eternal Sun that they would worship him at all times, and form a monarchial government at the center of their religion, with a single duke or duchess leading it. And so it began...

"After he felt that his mission was completed," the guard continued. "Solaris departed our world...but not before leaving a piece of him behind as something to remember him by. A proof of existance, if you will. And it was in the form of a singular tiny flame, lit on a candlestone. The Flame of Hope. Entrusted to the royal family..."

"...the Flame of Hope, huh?" said Klonoa. "Hm..."

The guard made a hand gesture over to the torches.

"So now, ever since Solaris departed, Soleanna never stopped worshipping him for generations. Every year, the city would hold the Festival of the Sun, to give its thanks to the god that gave hope to its people... That is what those torches are for."

"Oh...?"

"Mm-hmm. In order to start the Festival proper, our Duke or Duchess of Soleanna must lit those torches, but not before giving a short speech about it."

"Hm, I see... That's cool. But..."

"Yes?"

"...you say that there's a duke or duchess ruling over this city." said Klonoa, looking at the guard. "I heard otherwise; that a princess is the ruler here."

"Ah, yes! Princess Elise III. Yes, she is our current ruler. Has been for the past ten years now, ever since her father passed away... The only reason why she hasn't assumed the title of duchess is simply because she hasn't come of age yet."

"Ah, right. That's true... What happened to her father, though?"

"...uh, well, uh..."

The cat noticed the guard was hesitating, looking down...

"...actually, I'm on strict orders not to reveal to anyone about that detail... Sorry, Klonoa."

"Huh...? ...hm, that's alright, then."

Klonoa looked at the torches again with a determined frown.

'Certainly top-secret, that's for sure.' he thought. 'But...I wonder if this whole religion has anything to do with it? Hm...'

Just then, the radio, which was attached to the guard's belt on his left, buzzed in, and a male commanding voice was heard:

"Red alert! Red alert to all stations!"

"Huh?" Both Klonoa and the guard noticed and looked.

"The main city of Soleanna is under attack! I repeat, the main city is under attack!"

"Under attack?" asked Klonoa. "...huh?"

Suddenly, the sound of a distant explosion was heard behind them, and Klonoa swiftly looked back, seeing a cloud of smoke rise up into the air to the right, near the metropolis itself.

"Looks like an explosion just occurred! Is it the work of a criminal again?" asked the guard.

"Might be, might not be." replied the cat, facing the metropolis. He then looked at the guard. "Hey, I'll go and deal with whatever's attacking the city. You just follow your orders from the radio, okay?"

"Of course! Good luck, Klonoa!"

The cat nodded. Then, as he looked at the city, with a grunt, he powered up with his energy particle aura and blasted off afterwards, ascending and heading straight into the metropolis itself.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

"The Winds of Absolution"

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

1:15p.m. Main City

The golden yellow, long-eared cat flew into the city, flying high above the metropolis streets. He flew to where the explosion occurred, and as soon as he saw what caused it, he stopped in the air, looking below.

"What?"

As he looked, with traffic interrupted on the street nearby, the explosion that just occurred came from a now-destroyed gas station, which was emblazoned in flames all over, even the cars and the store itself. Yet, unaffected by the fire, there stood what appeared to be a giant hulking monster, a large group of reptillian-like creatures, and some bats. All were black and purple, appearing to be crystallic in appearance, with large purple crystals jagged out of their bodies wherever they were seen.

"That...was a gas station that just blew up? And...where are the...? Oh no..."

Seeing absolutely no survivors in sight, and with the cars blown up...

"...this was a surprise attack... They had no way of knowing..."

Being a bit shocked at this, and noticing more crystallic creatures deep into the streets in all directions...Klonoa slowly grew angry.

"...grrr...! They. Will. Pay!"

Gritting his teeth, the cat immediately blasted off downwards to the gas station. He fiercely landed on the sidewalk, causing a minor quake to the ground and catching the attention of the crystal creatures ahead of him, who turned to face him.

With his aura still around him, Klonoa slowly stood up and looked at them, now with a frown on his face... He lowered his eyes at them, looking more cold and determined than before.

"...you think you can get away with this, huh...?" he calmly said. "Well, think again..."

With his look of determination, bringing his hands up and close together, Klonoa reached for his left glove, sliding it off with his right hand and taking it off, dropping it to the ground with it slightly flying off ahead due to his aura. He then slid the other glove off, and his white-furred hands were revealed.

Using his left foot, the cat kicked his right shoe off, and then did the same to his left, both revealing his white-furred feet.

Finally, with his hands, Klonoa threw his hat off and jerked his collar off of him at the same time. Now nothing was left on him other than his own golden and white fur...

"I cannot forgive you for what you've done here..."

Lowering his left hand, but positioning his right hand all the way to his right, a bright flash occurred, and his trademark Wind Ring appeared in it, now grabbing it. The green gem on it glowed bright blue, and soon, his discarded accessories all levitated, going back to the gem and shrinking themselves into it.

The blue glow faded, and the Ring flashed white again, now transformed into the hilt of the Wind Saber. Activating it, a green burst of energy emitted out of it, forming the blade of the weapon.

As soon as they saw the Saber, the crystallic creatures immediately regarded him as a threat. Their red eyes glowed brightly, focusing solely on him.

With nothing left on him to hold him back, Klonoa went into a stance, gritting his teeth angrily.

"Grrr...I don't know where you came from, but regardless, you blew up this place and killed everyone! And for that..."

A second later...the creatures now swiftly went straight for him.

"...you must paaaaaay!"

With that angry yell and with his dark blue eyes turning red to reflect his anger, the golden cat blasted off angrily, ready to strike. With nothing on him, Klonoa's speed had increased, making him more agile than before.

As soon as they came, two of the reptilian creatures jumped at him, but he quickly sliced them in two with a single horizontal swing of his Saber, destroying them afterwards in puffs of black smoke. Four more of them jumped at him, but as soon as they were near him, the cat quickly did a 360-degree spin with his Saber, slicing all of them at once and destroying them.

Stopping in the air near the ground in that position...

"Hm?"

...the golden cat then quickly noticed the crystallic bats around him were shooting a purple energy ball at him from each of them. But he easily, quickly deflected them all back with his Saber.

Lowering his Saber from his defensive stance...looking ahead in determination, he put up and crossed both of his arms into an "X" position, in front of his face. Then, a second later...

"Hm!"

...he swiftly brought them down and thrusted his body forward, emitting a huge, surrounding, circular, golden energy wave that quickly disintegrated the bats on contact, instantly vanquishing them.

The wave faded, and he floated upright with his arms down, still looking determined and frowning as ever. Just then, he noticed something huge coming for him to his left, making him look slightly left and up.

The crystallic giant was running towards him, making the ground shake constantly. When it reached him, the giant tried to punch him with its right hand, but as it made contact, it had no effect! The fist stopped hard on him, with Klonoa not flinching at the attack.

The giant realized it didn't affect him, but before it could even react, Klonoa gritted his teeth...

"Grrrr...aaaaaahhhhh!"

...and with that angry scream, the golden Super cat emitted a huge invisible energy wave that knocked the giant back a bit. Then immediately afterward, with his aura larger than before, Klonoa blasted off to the giant and let loose a very huge, extremely fast, horizontal Saber slash on it, giving off the illusion that he went through the giant and came out on the other side, as if he just plowed through it.

Klonoa stopped in midair, in his finishing stance with the Saber behind him. A large slit soon appeared in the giant's torso, and a second later, the giant split apart and fell to the ground, exploding in large black smoke afterwards.

The cat went out of his stance and floated upright. Looking and turning back, as he saw, there were no more of the creatures left, as he destroyed them all. He then looked directly at the ruins of the gas station.

"...sorry I couldn't prevent it..." he calmly said. "It was a surprise attack after all...but...at least I can do this."

With one swift sideways motion of his left hand, Klonoa emitted a huge gust of wind at the station that instantly extinguished all of the fire and flames, leaving behind only dust and smoke now.

"May those people rest in peace..." he said, closing his eyes.

After a bit of silence, opening his eyes, now dark blue again, the golden long-eared cat turned around. As he witnessed, still more crystallic creatures were going around causing havoc and destruction, with people running and driving away for their lives on the streets below.

Determined, Klonoa went into a stance with his Saber.

"No more deaths today! I'm going to save this city no matter what! Hyaaaaah!"

The golden Super cat blasted off towards them, with his aura trailing behind him.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

1:17p.m.

"Aggh!"

Elsewhere, in the central part of the city, the horde and number of dark crystallic creatures was at its strongest; several groups of creatures, of various kinds, were causing chaos and destruction all over. Streets were flooded and crumbled, glass windows were shattered, massive fire and flames spreaded throughout, and people were fleeing for their lives.

The police were around to help, but they were no match for the might of the crystallic creatures, as their guns didn't affect them at all. The giants alone were able to decimate some of the police, while other police simply fled, calling for help on their radios.

At the large main street, unaffected but depleted of its traffic...there was one three-foot, whitish-silver hedgehog kneeling on one knee, appearing to be hurt and frustrated, breathing heavily in the process.

"Ah...ah... Darn it...!"

The whitish-silver hedgehog slowly stood up, leaning slightly forward in pain. From his front, the hedgehog had five quills spreaded out from his forehead, in a formation similar to the head feathers of a cockatoo. His hedgehog ears could be seen beneath his head quills. The whitish-silver hedgehog had yellow-irised eyes like normal Klonoa, with black streaks going across the sides of his sclera. Two large, traditional hedgehog quills stuck out from the back of his head, drooping downwards, and he had dark peach fur on his muzzle and in the insides of his ears.

As it was the case of both Sonic and Klonoa, and most of the other male anthro animals of this world, the silver hedgehog wore nothing but accessories on his hands and feet. His body, albeit bruised all over, was entirely whitish-silver-furred, with a pure white furry mane on his chest, extending to the back of the neck where it was the most fluffiest. Two back quills and short tail were seen from behind.

He wore yellow-braced, white gloves on his hands, with green markings that can be seen on the bracers and on the palms of his white gloves...and he wore dark green-and-white boots on his feet, with the same yellow-and-green bracers on top of them as well.

Looking downwards and breathing heavily, the hedgehog looked ahead, seeing what just caused him trouble...what just knocked him back.

Two large crystallic giants were standing next to each other, gazing at the hedgehog with their red eyes. But they weren't alone; they were accompanied by a dark crystallic entity floating above them, surrouded by a sphere of bat-like, orb-shaped creatures. The entity, the one the hedgehog was clearly opposing against, looked like a dark crystallic clone of the hedgehog himself. Where the gloves and shoes would be were large purple crystallic hands and feet, instead, complete with claws on the hands. The whitish-silver fur was replaced by black fur, and jagged purple crystals appeared at the end of all of its quills. The mane, too, was crystallic in appearance.

The clone's eye pupils were bright green and lizard-like, and its sclera was red in color, with cracks all over. The clone also lacked a nose of its own, and its muzzle and inner ears were gray and rock-textured in appearance.

The clone looked at the hedgehog with an evil, smiling expression.

"Give up yet, my dear Silver?" it asked, sporting a male, sinister voice, but with no visible mouth speaking.

Silver growled at him.

"Grrr... No...I won't give up, Mephiles... You are not supposed to be out of the Scepter of Darkness! The Duke sealed you ten years ago for a very important reason, you know!"

"Hmhmhm, oh, I know why very well... To pay for his own costly mistake, he sealed us away in our own separate prisons so that we will not ever reunite into our former being again... Well, he certainly paid for it dearly, with his own life ending afterwards...but his little deed for this city, and in turn, the world..."

The dark clone raised his hands to his sides, and with their palms facing upward, two large dark purple energy balls, bristling with electricity around them, formed above them, with his sphere of creatures spreading out from him a bit.

"...was only in vain, as I have proven!"

Mephiles threw the balls at him. Seeing them coming, the whitish-silver hedgehog suddenly began to glow bright green all around him, and from his hands, he quickly threw two large, arrow-shaped, energy projectiles at the energy balls, negating them on contact and fading away afterwards...

Silver stood there in his stance, breathing harder.

"You haven't proven anything yet, Mephiles... Your other half is still imprisoned, and I'm gonna make sure...that...he won't get out...as well... Ugh...!"

Suddenly stumbling, with the bright glows fading, the hedgehog fell with one knee and with his right hand on the ground, breathing heavily.

The dark clone chuckled at this.

"So you say, Silver. So you say... But unfortunately, with you in such a pitiful state...ha ha ha, I don't think you can."

Silver continued to breathe heavily with no response. Indeed, he was badly hurt.

"D-darn it...!"

"Hmhmhmhmmm... I doubt you can keep up much longer." said Mephiles. "Such a crying shame, it truly is. Oh, well. At least by finally getting rid of you, the so-called guardian of the princess...I will have nothing to stop me in my way to free Iblis from her. Only then will the people of this world will soon suffer for their sins..."

With that, the two giants to his left and right began marching over to the hedgehog.

"Finish him, will you, my dear sons?"

With each quaking step, the giants went over to him. Stopping right in front of him, the last quaking step made Silver fall backwards, now sitting on the ground with his hands holding himself up.

As they looked down upon him, he gritted his teeth in anger at them.

"Darn...! It can't end like this... I can't give up!"

As Silver was preparing for his demise, however...

"...hm?"

...Mephiles noticed something. In the sky above, a group of his large crystallic birds was supposed to be there. But they weren't...and then...

"Huh...?"

...he noticed more and more of his minions suddenly disappearing without a trace, as he looked all around him. To his left, his lizards weren't there, and ahead, past Silver, more of his giants weren't there either. The city was suddenly being cleared of them all.

"...what is going on? My minions have suddenly disappeared from their posts... What?"

Suddenly, Mephiles suddenly caught a glimpse of something to his upper right in the distance. Something golden, and it just wiped out another of his crystallic birds, exploding into smoke and dust afterwards.

Immediately knowing that yet another one of his birds was next, he focused his sights on it to his upper left. As he witnessed, a golden streak of light just went right through his bird and flew away, with the bird being seemingly sliced in half and exploding into smoke and dust afterwards.

"...what...what was that golden light, that just...?"

While Mephiles pondered what was going on, ahead, the two giants raised their fists up, ready to pound the hedgehog into the ground.

'...I'm sorry, Elise. I...have failed you...' Silver thought, closing his eyes, looking away, and gritting his teeth, preparing for the inevitable.

The giants swung their fists on him, but...

"...ngh?"

...as Mephiles saw right in front of him, the same golden streak that he just saw had suddenly rushed in and shot out a huge gust wind at the giants' back, knocking them past Silver. Then, quickly while they were in mid-air, the golden one blasted off to them and sliced them each in half, destroying them as they exploded in smoke and dust.

About three seconds later, Silver opened his eyes...

"Wha...?"

...and noticed the giants had suddenly disappeared.

"They're gone...?"

Looking around and noticing that the city had been suddenly cleared of Mephiles' minions, Silver stood up, stumbling a bit.

"They're all gone? Weird..."

Then, as he noticed Mephiles' shocked expression at something ahead of him, the hedgehog looked back.

"...huh?"

Floating in the air above the street, with his golden aura moving his long ears majestically, and with the Wind Saber in hand...the golden yellow, long-eared cat slowly turned around and half-faced Mephiles, with a deep, determined, frowning expression on his face.

"It's you!" exclaimed Silver, surprised at who it was.

Mephiles continued to look surprised as well.

"What...is the meaning of this?" he asked. "For someone of your power to come and destroy my minions like that, surprisingly...I have to ask: Who are you?"

The golden cat completely faced him.

"...minions, huh? Then you must be the one behind all of this. The one responsible..."

With his aura disappearing, the cat floated down and landed right in front of Silver, looking back at him.

"Are you alright?"

Silver nodded. "I'm a bit bruised up, though... But yes, he's definitely behind all of this."

The cat looked up at the dark clone.

"I can tell. He looks like you, only with an evil crystal look, instead. And from what I saw, it looks like he wants you dead."

"Exactly." replied the hedgehog. "And for getting in his way."

"I see. Hm..."

Klonoa walked a few steps ahead and stopped.

"My name is Klonoa. Klonoa the Cat. And since I'm in a golden form as you see here right now, you can call me Super Klonoa."

"...Super... That certainly explains your power." said Mephiles.

"Yes...and all you need to know is I am NOT one to mess with..."

The golden cat swiftly pointed his Saber at him.

"...especially when creeps like YOU are running around hurting this world and its people! Do you know that you've taken some lives today because your minions are going around and blowing places up in fire? I hate it when innocent people have to die like that!"

Going out of his shocked look, Mephiles chuckled, with an evil look on his face.

"Do you honestly think I care about them? Their meaningless, sinful lives? Ha ha ha... Obviously, I don't!"

Hearing that, the cat lowered his Saber.

"Hm, typical... As it always is with you evil creeps."

"Evil? Ha. Say what you want, Klonoa, but it is not I who is evil. Corrupted, actually... In fact, this world is pretty much guilty of that word, I'd say. It is why I see their lives as meaningless and sinful, especially the latter... And truthfully, Klonoa, it was due to this corruption ten years ago, that led to what you see here now."

"...huh? Ten years ago?"

"Yes...and I'm sure that little hedgehog over there can tell you all about it."

As he heard that, Klonoa looked back at Silver.

"Uh...!" grunted Silver, still breathing. "...ugh, it was a blind mistake on the Duke's part. He never knew it could lead to an accident like that!"

"A blind mistake, indeed." said Mephiles. "Blinded, by his own obsession to resurrect his precious wife back from the dead... Staying in the past, not letting go of such dead relics and people... That is what we call greed. A component of corruption."

"...we admit he was being unethical about it, but that doesn't mean every single person in the world committed the same mistake as he did. You DON'T have to take it out on the world, Mephiles!" exclaimed Silver.

"So you say... However...aren't we all forgetting a little certain phrase? I'll say it. Simply put, 'History repeats itself.' ...hmhmhmmm..."

"...uggh...grrr...!"

The hedgehog growled. The golden cat, however, upon hearing that, looked down, suddenly remembering something.

'Humans have committed the same offense...and they will again!' echoed a deep, male voice in his head.

"Uh... Hm..."

"Ha ha ha ha, I'd love to explain what that phrase meant, but I feel this conversation has gone on long enough." said Mephiles. "Besides, every second delayed means my urge to reunite with Iblis grows stronger and stronger. So let's not delay this any longer, shall we?"

Silver noticed Klonoa was looking down.

"...you...you don't agree with what he said, do you, Klonoa?"

After a second, Klonoa closed his eyes and shook his head. He opened his eyes and frowned at the dark clone above.

"I don't exactly get the whole picture here, sort of...but I know what this guy is getting at... Sinful, huh? That he sees humans as a blight on our world, so that he must eradicate them all?"

The hedgehog also looked at the dark clone above.

"Yep, exactly."

"Hm, then it reminds me a little too much of a certain guy I battled against a while back." said the cat.

"But that's just one of his goals, Klonoa... His primary goal is why he definitely needs to be stopped."

"...and that is?"

Before answering, the hedgehog slowly walked over to Klonoa's immediate right, stopping and stumbling a bit.

"I'll tell you after we defeat him. I don't think you need another reason to see why he is a threat."

"Huh, well, yeah, considering that he caused so much destruction already, I definitely don't need another reason to see why...but, uh... 'We?'" asked Klonoa, looking at him. "Oh, no. You can't help. You're hurt, aren't you? Stay back. I'll stop him. I'm way stronger than I already look, you know."

Just then, pain shot through the hedgehog's body, making him flinch and stumble again, holding his right arm in the process.

"...uggh!"

"See? You're hurt! Just stay back and I'll deal with him!"

"...no...! Ugh...this is supposed to be my mission...! And promise! I promised the princess herself...that I would stop Mephiles...! I never give up on promises..."

"...oh...? Hmm... And you think working with me will still fulfill the promise?"

The hedgehog looked at the cat.

"I believe it would... Ugh...Klonoa, your power...is that of the Chaos Emeralds, right? Like Sonic?"

"That's right. Except that I don't need the Emeralds themselves. All the energy is right inside of me."

"I know... Then..."

Silver completely faced Klonoa, letting go of his arm.

"...since they say that your Chaos energy is always rejuvenating itself...can you lend some of your energy to me? Can you...grant me a Super form of my own?"

"A Super form?"

"Yes... I believe I can't fulfill my promise to Elise without it."

"...hmm, I'm not so sure about that...but..."

Looking at Mephiles, Klonoa thought about it. Indeed, he never really tried to give someone Chaos energy before...let alone a Super form. But then, he never really tried to experiment with his own Chaos energy until he thought about it on the day before the event with the Adephagos. And by doing so, he learned several new abilities and techniques, and grew way stronger than before. If he could just try it now...

Mephiles stared at the two.

"My patience is growing thin... Although...the challenge of battling you both is a little...enticing..."

"Oh, really? Well, thanks for the feedback, then, 'cause I just thought it out." said Klonoa, smiling.

He then looked at Silver.

"Well, I never did this before, but at least I could try... Besides, heh, I guess I can't let you break your promise to her, can I? And...I guess I should never reject any help from others, either, huh?"

Silver shook his head, smiling. "Do it, Klonoa."

"Hmm... Alright, then."

Looking at it, the golden cat aimed his empty left hand at him, closing his eyes and fading his smile away.

"Here goes nothing."

A second later, Klonoa's golden energy particle aura began flaring up all around him, making his long ears move along with it.

Soon enough, Silver felt the Chaos energy coming into him. Now standing up straight, energy winds began flaring up all around him as well.

"...this is what it feels like, huh...? Chaos energy...!"

As the power surged up inside of him, his hands began to tremble wildly. He clenched them...and as his two large quills suddenly spiked up and went sideways, he put his fists up to his face, with his eyes turning red.

"...aaaahhhh...yaaahhhh!"

Suddenly throwing his fists down and yelling to the sky with his eyes closed, a great burst of light creamy golden energy exploded out of him, transforming him. Along with his bent-up spiked quills, his overall fur color was now a light creamy golden color. His white mane had turned golden as well, with the back of his mane being spiked up as well and flowing along with his own particle aura. His head quills had also slightly spread out from each other. All of his green markings on his gloves and boots had turned yellow as well.

Hearing the yell and the "shhhh" sound of Silver's particle aura, Klonoa opened his eyes to see.

"Hey, I did it! Wow...!"

Lowering his fists down to his sides, Super Silver opened his red eyes. As he felt the great energy of his new Super form within, he slowly gazed up at the dark one himself, looking determined at him.

"Time for some payback..."

The light creamy golden hedgehog suddenly floated up and stopped where Mephiles was directly ahead of him. Klonoa chuckled at this and followed suit, stopping next to the hedgehog.

"Now that you're Super, you're ready to take this guy down, huh?" asked the cat.

The hedgehog nodded, going into a ready stance. With that, Klonoa went into a stance as well with his Saber, smiling.

"Yeah, this guy needs to pay for the lives he's taken as well... By the way, I never got your name. What is it?"

"Silver. Silver the Hedgehog."

"Ah. Heh, that's a cool name... So, you ready for this, Super Silver?"

"Ready when he is."

Mephiles stared at them both, taking Silver's increased power to mind.

"So now there's two golden heroes in front of me... Ha! Love all you want about your new power, Silver, but it will not even make a slight difference to me."

"You think so, huh? Well, we'll see about that!" exclaimed Klonoa.

"Oh, yes, we will see, indeed! Come, my minions! Come to your master!"

As his sphere of creatures closed in on him, Mephiles raised his arms and glowed bright purple. Soon, as the two heroes witnesed, a massive horde of his crystallic minions popped in behind him from various portals that appeared. Creatures, of all kinds and sizes, soon filled the street behind him, going into a considerable distance ahead.

Mephiles stopped glowing and lowered his arms, laughing as well.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa! Do you like what you see behind me? I doubt you can destroy them all at once!"

"...well, that's a lot for sure, but its nothing we can't handle! Right, Silver?" asked Klonoa.

"Right!"

"Ha! Keep thinking that! I doubt you'll last long!" exclaimed the dark one.

He then pointed his claw at them.

"Hear me, my minions! Attaaaaack! Rip them to shreds!"

On his command, the massive horde of crystallic creatures swiftly began to march in on them.

Seeing them coming, Klonoa and Silver nodded to each other. Then, together, they blasted off to the horde, ready to show Mephiles what they're made of.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

To be continued in ch.2...

Next: "The Rebirth of a God"


	2. The Rebirth of a God

Super Klonoa Unleashed

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Wrath of the Sun

by Super Klonoa

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Characters © SEGA and Namco Bandai

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Ch. 2: "The Rebirth of a God"

"Get the Hell Out of My City!"

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

1:26p.m. Apotos, Village, Tails' Workshop

"...mmm..."

Inside this orange-colored house with fox ears on top, in one corner, there lay the blue hedgehog, Sonic, on a bed mattress on the floor, snoozing on with a smile on his face. He was lying on his back, with his gloved hands holding up his head together.

To Sonic's left, across the living area, sat the two-tailed fox, Tails, working on his supercomputer in front of him and busily typing on the keyboard.

What Tails was working on the large screen appeared to be a science report on various scientific subjects, with its intended recipient being Professor Pickle... In the lower left corner of the screen, there was a separate screen, a picture-in-picture feature, that was showing a television program of a scientific world documentary. The documentary was currently showing a camera flythrough of one of the desert cities in the nation of Shamar, flying over various Shamaran buildings and structures.

The fox was simultaneously watching the documentary while working on his report to Pickle...until...

"...huh?"

...the documentary suddenly cut to black... Then, a few seconds later, it cut to a giant animated news logo that went with the sudden, dramatic music that came on. The logo read, "117 NEWS," with a subtitle under it that read, "BREAKING NEWS."

After the music finished playing, it then cut to a news anchorman wearing a green business suit.

"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news. Soleanna, the City of Water, is currently under attack."

"...hm?"

Hearing that, Sonic opened his left eye to look, with his smile disappearing.

"We repeat: Soleanna, the City of Water, is under attack, by the sudden appearance of a large, unknown group of purple monsters. The attack began around ten-to-thirty minutes ago and..."

Hearing the details, the hedgehog sat and stood up, walking to the big screen and stopping near the fox, with a look of suspicion and determination on him.

"Purple monsters?"

The anchorman went on with more details, including the number of casualties and others.

"Purple... Is it Dark Gaia again?" Sonic asked. "...no, it can't be him again. I put him back to sleep with Chip's help. He won't be awakening again until a million years later. Unless Dr. Eggman's found a way around that somehow..."

After a while, it then cut to a live helicopter view of the main city, with the reporter speaking about the situation... Tails pressed a key on his keyboard, now enlarging the screen to full size. As the helicopter flew above the city, the purple creatures came into view, giving a better look at them as they were situated in a large street area.

"...they don't look like Dark Gaia's pieces to me." said Tails, observing. "They look more...crystallic."

"...huh, so it's not him after all... Hmm, I wonder if ol' Egghead's behind this again like usual? ...huh?"

Just then, as the reporter in the helicopter continued to comment, the reporter was interrupted, as he suddenly saw some of the creatures getting vanquished into smoke by something in the large street below. The camera zoomed in, and everyone recognized what was destroying them.

"Hey, it's Klonoa!" exclaimed Tails, surprised.

Sonic grinned at this. "Heh... Yep, its him alright. And kicking butt, no less!"

Indeed, Super Klonoa was going through the massive horde of crystallic creatures, slicing and destroying them with the Wind Saber and his golden energy blasts, battling through them with all of his accessories off... But they soon noticed that he was not alone in the battle against them.

"Huh? Who's that with him?" Tails asked. "A hedgehog...?"

While Klonoa continued to go through them, a spiky, two-quilled, light-creamy-gold colored, accessorized hedgehog was behind him, focusing on the creatures that the cat missed. The hedgehog had the same particle aura as Klonoa's, and was shooting golden energy arrows at the creatures as well as telepathically lifting the creatures up and throwing them at each other.

"Oh... Hm, yeah, that's a hedgehog alright. And in Super form as well... Klonoa must've given him the Chaos energy to transform so that he could help him." said Sonic, observing. "...hmm..."

The fox looked at him. "...you're thinking of helping them, aren't you?"

"Well, they still have a massive horde to go through... They COULD do it on their own, especially Klonoa there...since he did save this world on his own before after all, even though I helped him fight off the creatures coming from that octopus thing in the sky... But he was the one who destroyed that thing in the end. And man, I'm still surprised of the technique he used to do it. I thought he was using that ancient city's power to fire that blue energy beam instead, but no, it was of his own Chaos energy...

"Yep, Klonoa can do it all on his own. Alone, even." continued Sonic. "But since that hedgehog's helping him there...eh..."

He looked at Tails, grinning.

"...why not join in on all the fun? Heh heh."

The blue hedgehog then turned around and walked a few feet ahead. After he stopped, with his grin fading, he closed his eyes and concentrated.

After a bit, the seven Chaos Emeralds flashed in around him in the air. They soon glowed to their brightest, and as they did, he transformed...

With a great, golden, particle aura around him, Super Sonic stood there, opening his now slanted-shaped red eyes. His golden yellow quills were flowing with his aura, like the flame they resembled.

"Besides, the sooner that horde of creatures is destroyed, the better." he said, smiling.

"Good luck, Sonic." said Tails, smiling as well.

The golden hedgehog swiftly gave the peace sign back at him. Then, as he lowered his hand...

"Hang on, Klonoa! Chaos...Controool!"

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Soleanna, Main City

Just as they were seen on the news, Super Klonoa and Super Silver continued to fight through the horde of dark crystallic creatures, led by their leader, Mephiles the Dark, who was a crystallic clone of normal Silver. The crystallic leader watched on from above while the two golden heroes fought through his horde.

Holding two crystallic lizards up in the air with his Chaos-enhanced psychokinetic abilities, Silver then swiftly clapped his hands, and as he did, the two lizards crashed into each other, destroying both of them into black smoke.

The light-cream golden hedgehog looked back. The long-eared Super cat was slicing away at every creature that came at him, constantly slashing up, down, left, and right while dodging their attacks at the same time.

Mephiles continued to watch them from above.

'...hmm, so this is the grand power of the Chaos Emeralds...' he thought. 'I knew what they were long before Klonoa even mentioned it to him... Yes...this is the power that I require in order to merge back with Iblis. But since Klonoa implied that he didn't need them to transform, I wonder. Where are those Chaos Emeralds now?'

He then looked at Silver.

'Ha, the fool does not know of the true scope of my plans. Not only do I need the princess, but also the Chaos Emeralds as well. Only then will this world witness our rebirth... Hmhmhmmm...'

Klonoa continued to push through the horde. After he destroyed a giant, another giant tried to punch him from his right, but was immediately knocked away by a golden energy arrow to the face, falling to the ground afterwards. The cat looked back at Silver, who just threw it.

"He's all yours!" exclaimed the hedgehog, smiling.

The golden cat smiled and nodded. Then, powering up a bit with his aura getting bigger, he blasted up to the sky. Quickly descending, he turned his Saber upside down and stabbed right through the giant's face, making it explode into black smoke.

Quickly going back to where he was before, he set his Saber upright and quickly went into a stance. A massive amount of creatures was still ahead.

"We can keep on going, and we will not stop!"

Silver flew in next to him. "Right!"

Mephiles then floated down, stopping right above his minions.

"Yes... I must say, I am quite impressed with the display of power here. But that does not mean you can endure for so long."

"Says you. But I think we certainly can endure through them." said Klonoa, smiling. "Especially me in particular. I went through things a whole lot more worse than this...and yet, I still prevailed in the end. In fact, I can take out your entire remaining horde in one go, actually."

"...huh? You can?" asked Silver, looking at him.

Klonoa nodded.

"Oh...in one go...?" asked Mephiles, looking curious. "Seriously? Are you not bluffing or...?"

"Seriously."

"...hmm... It seems you are more than meets the eye, then, if you are not bluffing... Show me, then. Show me how truly powerful you are, Super Klonoa."

The golden cat went out of his stance, now floating upright and still smiling.

"Truly? That's an understatement, really. It's just one move I'm going to show... But okay."

Just then...

"Not if I can get a piece of the action here myself first!"

"Huh...?"

...they all heard a loud, shouting voice coming from above. Before they could even look, the source of the voice suddenly came blasting down and towards the horde, swiftly going through and destroying an entire line of them in a golden trailing blaze. At the back end of the horde, it again swiftly plowed through them, destroying another line of the crystallic fiends.

It stopped right in front of Klonoa and Silver, and they both recognized who it was.

"Sonic!" exclaimed the cat, surprised.

Floating there in a stance, the golden yellow Super hedgehog smiled. "Yep! It's me alright. Saw ya on the news fighting these things, by the way, so I thought I'd jump in myself and join in on the fun here."

Klonoa smiled. "Heh. Awesome. You got here through Chaos Control, right?"

Sonic nodded. He then floated himself upright and looked at the light-cream gold hedgehog next to the cat. "Cool to see that you got yourself a helper here... What's your name, by the way?"

Still surprised, Silver then snapped out of it.

"My name is Silver. Silver the Hedgehog... And you're the world-famous Sonic, right?"

"That's right."

"Nice to meet you, then, Sonic." Silver said.

"Nice to meet you, too, Silver."

"I found this guy right here in this area, Sonic." said Klonoa. "He was about to be crushed by those giants, too, had I not stopped them."

"I see... Hm."

With his smile fading away, Sonic turned around and frowned at Mephiles, who was looking all shocked at Sonic's sudden appearance.

"So, Silver here asked you to give him a Super form of his own, in order to help stop these monsters, right?"

"Yeah. That guy right there, who looks like him, is their leader, Sonic." said the cat.

"I can tell... Hm, when I first saw these monsters on the news, I thought Dark Gaia suddenly had returned or something, as they look like his pieces. But it looks like that isn't the case here... Do you know why he's attacking the city, Silver?"

"Yes... But I promised Klonoa already that I would tell the whole story to him once this is over." said Silver, looking determined.

"Oh...? Hm, if that's the case, then..."

Sonic looked back at Klonoa, smiling at him.

"...its time we end this... Klonoa, show these creeps what you're really made of."

The golden cat nodded.

Mephiles continued to look shocked at Sonic, sensing something in him.

'Uh...! That...hedgehog...! The Chaos Emeralds are with him! I can feel it...' he thought. He then slowly began to look evil with a smiling expression. '...ha ha ha ha... Yes... Perfect... As long I do not reveal to them that I know of the Chaos Emeralds myself... Hmm...'

With his grip on his Saber and a determined, frowning expression on him, Klonoa began to fly over to the horde, ascending above them, and descending into a small tight spot within the center of the horde. The monsters all had their red eyes on him, and he looked to his left and right at them.

Klonoa then looked ahead, with his particle aura still around him. After a second, he put his Saber up in front, gripped it with both of his hands, and positioned it near his upper right arm, moving himself a bit and with the Saber pointing backwards.

"Here goes... Hm!"

With that grunt, he powered up, making his aura and his long ears move wilder, and now emitting strong energy winds from him. Along with his Chaos energy, his wind energy flared up within him as well...

As everyone watched, after a few seconds and as the winds grew stronger and stronger...the golden cat was ready to unleash it, gritting his teeth as well.

"Grrr...! ...Suuperr Thuunderrr Hurricaaaaaane!"

With that yell, Klonoa suddenly went into a swift, spinning golden tornado. As he did, various portions of the sky suddenly shot down huge golden bolts of lightning at the creatures and monsters, obliterating them into oblivion as the lightning crashed down to the ground. As Klonoa spun and spun around, more huge bolts of lightning destroyed more of the horde here and there, missing none of them as they cleared through.

From above, Mephiles was shocked at Klonoa'a attack, and was almost hit by lightning himself, dodging it right in front of him!

'Ngh...! Impossible! How can he...? No...I must escape now, and save the Chaos Emeralds for later!'

While Klonoa continued his attack, the dark one looked down and swiftly flew towards the ground.

"Huh? Wait! Mephiles!" yelled Silver, seeing him flee.

But it was too late. Upon reaching the ground, Mephiles went right through it in a splash of dark energy and had disappeared within.

"Huh? Did he escape?" asked Sonic.

"Yes, he did! Darn it!"

After a bit, the lightning bolts had vanquished all of the horde of creatures, leaving the street empty... Klonoa slowly winded down into a halt, stopping into a stance where his Saber was pointing back and nearly up to the sky. His aura had faded.

Floating upright, he took a good look at his surroundings...and noticed that Mephiles was not where he was at.

"Huh? Where'd he go? ...did I destroy him as well or...?"

"No, he escaped." said Silver, flying over to Klonoa with Sonic by him. Both of their auras had also faded.

"Escaped?" asked the cat, facing them.

"Yeah... Darn it, I was gonna seal him, too! When we weaken him and all...!" exclaimed Silver, looking a bit angry.

"He likely got scared off by your attack, Klonoa." said Sonic.

"...hm, figures... But, 'seal him?' What do you mean, Silver?" asked Klonoa.

The light-cream gold hedgehog sighed, then looked at Klonoa.

"...about that... Now that we destroyed his minions and saved the city, for now, that is...it's time I told you the whole story behind all of this. As long as Mephiles doesn't cause havoc here again..."

"Well, I hope he doesn't... But...all of this has to do with what happened ten years ago, right?"

Silver nodded.

"Hm...so what Danny said is true..." said the cat, thinking. "And also why that one guard here couldn't tell me anything..."

"...so you heard the rumors as well." said Silver.

"Yeah, I did... I was kinda sent here by someone to deliver pizza for him, by the way. He told me something happened here ten years ago; a top-secret science project that killed the Princess' father in the end... I tried to ask a guard here about it, but he said he was on strict orders not to reveal anything about it."

"Well, that's because its just as you heard: top-secret. And, well..."

Looking away, Silver then looked a bit worried.

"...if we publicly revealed what happened ten years ago, the very beliefs of the Soleannan people, the beliefs of this city's citizens, would be shattered...and they would look at us as nothing but heretics...and possibly decievers as well."

"Oh...? Hmm..."

"Beliefs? ...uh, wait, this city has a religion?" asked Sonic. "Like in Shamar?"

"Yeah... That guard told me about it before I tried to ask him further, by the way." said the cat.

Silver looked at Klonoa. "So you already know of our founding history, then."

Klonoa nodded.

"...hm..."

The light-cream gold hedgehog looked at his own hands, then turned around.

"Alright, then. We'll discuss this at the castle, with the princess herself. Might as well use this power to fly over there before it runs out... Meet me over there when you guys are ready."

"Right. See you there." said Klonoa.

Nodding, Silver then swiftly flew off in the distance ahead... Looking at him, Sonic smiled at Klonoa.

"So, your ol' restaurant boss sent you on a worldwide pizza delivery trip to here, eh?"

"Yeah..." replied the cat, smiling at him and deactivating his Saber, turning it back into the Ring. "And then, I decided to explore this city on my own, and ask around about it and that rumor."

"Ah, heh heh... Hmm... Oh, hey, not wearing anything on today, huh?" Sonic asked, observing him.

"Nope... Not when I got serious at these monsters, that is. I don't know if I told you this or not, but I move a lot faster without my accessories on...when I go completely natural."

"Ah, I see... Heh, all the more reason why we anthros shouldn't wear clothes at all."

"Yeah, and to be really athletic, even our accessories must go off."

"As I've seen before... Maybe I should try it myself one day."

"Heh, you should."

Klonoa looked down at his Ring. Thinking of something, his smile faded, making him look around at the destruction caused in the city and then back at his Ring.

"...hmm, I should only wear these..."

The green gem on his Ring glowed brightly, and out came only his hat and collar. Grabbing them with his left hand, the Ring then went back inside of him in a quick flash.

"...in case Mephiles appears again... I can easily throw just these off instead of having to take off my gloves and shoes as well."

He put his hat on and buckled the collar around his neck, then looked ahead.

"Alright, so he said to meet him over at the castle, right?"

"That's what he said." Sonic replied.

"Then let's go."

The golden long-eared cat proceeded to fly off, with the golden hedgehog following him.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

"Disturbing Revelations"

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

1:31p.m.

Flying out of the city and headed towards the lone island where the castle was on...Klonoa and Sonic soon spotted Silver ahead and below, in his normal whitish-silver form, on a large helipad located on the outskirts of the island. They descended down towards it.

Silver watched them land in front of him, with Sonic reverting back to normal as soon as he touched down and stood up. Klonoa landed afterwards and stood up as well. Seeing Sonic revert back to normal, he decided to do the same himself, reverting back to his normal black self with his bangs down and his eyes turning back to amber yellow, and no longer looking mean-eyed.

Both of them looked at the tall, huge castle ahead.

"Now that's a pretty big castle there." said Sonic.

"Yeah, and where Princess Elise resides at, along with her governing officials." said Silver. He turned around. "Now please follow me inside."

"We're right behind you." acknowledged Klonoa.

Silver walked off, and they followed.

"So, uh...what's the history of this place? This religion of yours. I wanna know before you tell me why that crystal creep was attacking the city in the first place." said Sonic.

"Very well. Since Klonoa already knows, I'll tell you while we walk to the Princess' room." said the white hedgehog.

"Alright."

"Hm... So, about approximately one thousand years ago..."

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

As they walked inside and pressed on, Silver told Sonic of the same story that the city guard relayed to Klonoa earlier: that a being named Solaris came to the world and gave hope and salvation to the people he brought here from poor parts of the world, that he left a piece of him behind when he departed the world, and that it led to the founding of the Soleannan religion of now.

The trio were now in the main lobby of the castle. Royal red and yellow decorations were littered all over, with many large portraits of the royal family being graced on the walls, and a long line of golden chandeliers hanged from across the ceiling. To both Klonoa and Sonic, it was certainly a place to behold, as they constantly looked all over.

Ahead, beneath the overarching stairway, was a big door, leading to the throne room of the castle. But as he said before, Silver led them up the stairway on the sides instead, heading towards the private rooms area on the second floor.

Soon, after a long walk, the trio stopped near a white-colored door with golden linings around it and with a large red ribbon on top.

"Here it is. The Princess' room." said Silver, reaching for the knob and twisting it.

The door opened, and Silver let the two go in first. He then looked inside.

"...hm, not here. She must be in the throne room... Hey, make yourselves comfortable while I summon her here."

"Okay." nodded Klonoa.

The hedgehog closed the door. Then, they both observed the room.

"...huh, so this is the room of the Princess." said Sonic, smiling and looking around. "Not too shabby!"

The large room was filled with furniture appropiately placed here and there, with a huge royal bed at the leftmost section by a wall. It was also filled with tons and tons of Elise's personal belongings, including jewelry, plants, mini-portraits, Soleannan antiques, and much more.

Ahead of them, at the very back of the room, was a huge wall of window glass, with the city of Soleanna itself in great view. Right in front of the glass was a desk, with various papers, books, and writing stationery on top of it. And right in front of the desk itself was a large red couch.

Seeing the couch, Sonic walked over to it. Noticing him go over there while looking all over, Klonoa walked over as well.

"Well, he said to make ourselves comfortable, so..."

The blue hedgehog sat down on it, sighing happily and leaning back. The long-eared cat sat next to his right.

"Nice view of the city, eh?' asked Sonic.

"Yeah. It is."

"Hmm... Well, they should come in soon, so..."

The seconds pass... Klonoa looked around the room again.

"...huh?"

Looking at the large royal bed to the left, the cat noticed something above it on the wall itself. It was a large portrait of a smiling middle-aged man, wearing a white outfit and a small, roundish hat. The man's hair was gray, had a short beard on his face, and had blue eyes. On his outfit, the symbol of Solaris could be seen.

Noticing the cat, Sonic also looked at the portrait.

"Could that be the Duke of Soleanna? The Princess' father?" Klonoa asked.

"...you think that's him?"

"Could be, since this huge portrait is here in her room... Hmm."

Just then, the sound of the door opening was heard, and they both looked back.

Along with Silver, a young, red-haired girl now stood in the doorway, wearing a white dress, long elbow-length gloves, and high-heeled shoes. Her eyes were light blue, and she had two, white, V-shaped feathers in her hair, with one on each side of her head.

The young girl saw the two in front, and smiled.

"Klonoa, Sonic... Please meet the royal leader of Soleanna, Her Highness, Princess Elise III." proclaimed Silver.

The two of them rose from the couch and faced her, with Klonoa bowing to her.

"Princess." the cat said.

"...so you are the ones who helped Silver save our city..." said Elise, then bowing down elegantly to them. "I am both honored and grateful for what you did out there."

"Heh, no problem! We just did what we always do best." said Sonic, grinning and just standing there.

Both the cat and the princess stood up. Then, Elise walked up to Klonoa.

"Especially you, the world's newest hero. Arriving here first and all..." she said, smiling at him.

"...aw, heh. It's nothing, really..." Klonoa said. "But yeah, this city would've suffered more if I wasn't here."

"Hmm..."

The princess walked over to the desk, and Silver then closed the door and followed her.

"Yes, that is true." she said. "Soleanna would have suffered more damage, or would have been completely destroyed, if it weren't for you two. And Silver would have fallen, from what he told me, as well."

She then sat in the main chair, with Silver now standing next to her right. Her smile faded.

"But the fact remains is this. The entity of darkness, known as Mephiles, is still out there somewhere, as you know that he escaped from you."

"Right." Klonoa nodded, sitting back down on the couch.

"Yeah, and man, was he in a hurry as well, likely being scared off by Klonoa's attack and all." said Sonic, sitting down as well.

Elise nodded.

"So, what's Mephiles got to do with what happened ten years ago?" asked Klonoa. "From what a friend of mine told me earlier, you guys were doing some sort of a top-secret project here, and that your father died because of it... Is that true?"

The young princess frowned sadly, looking down.

"Yes... It's true."

"Whoa... Wh-what the heck happened back then?" asked Sonic, looking widely curious.

"...well, you guys have heard about our founding history." said Silver. "Now its time to show you why our people would not believe us if we told them what happened ten years ago..."

Looking at her...after a few seconds, Elise then looked at the two.

"Ten years ago...my mother, the Duchess of Soleanna, had died...due to a disease we could not cure her of... It was a tragic thing for us, me and my father, the Duke...especially for him. He could not get over her death, no matter how hard he tried. On some nights, I would see him in his room, sitting there in front of a portrait of her, asking why she left him like that... He just...couldn't get over it... Then, on one night, I overheard him saying that he was going to bring her back and that he promised it... That was when it happened."

"The Solaris Project." added Silver.

"...the Solaris Project?" asked Klonoa.

"Yes... You know of the Living Flame of Hope that Solaris left behind when he departed, right?"

"What about it?"

"Well, after a thousand years of being entrusted to us, it never blew out... But then, unknown to any of us, the Duke secretly had been in the chamber where it was, for some time and some days after the death of the Duchess. According to his personal diary, he stated that he could feel some sort of a large power within the flame itself. From there on, he decided to conduct several experiments on it...and soon concluded that this power within the flame could enable him...to communicate with the Eternal Sun himself... And that finally led to the Solaris Project."

"Wow." said the cat, looking a bit awed.

"Huh... Hmm...so let me guess. He tried to use this flame to talk to the big guy himself, to get the guy to bring his wife back from the dead?" Sonic asked.

"Yes. That was what he was trying to do." Elise said.

"But it backfired." said Klonoa.

"Yes, that's right." said Silver. "And we were there personally."

"Oh?"

The white hedgehog nodded.

"Right before he began the project, the Duke invited me and Elise to come watch what he was about to do." he continued. "At the time, I had no clue what he was doing. All we both saw was this huge machine right in front of us, with some kind of purple and orange energy mixed in together... Then, both of those energies suddenly glowed brightly, with the Duke smiling happily about it. But then, something went wrong... One of the scientists on his team reported that the machine was overloading and that we must get out of there quickly. But...he just stood there, looking shocked... When he finally, angrily shouted, 'Solaris! Why do you refuse to listen to my voice?' ...well, that's when I knew that something was definitely wrong.

"When the machine exploded, all of us were knocked back by the explosion. All of the team scientists had died as a result. But we were spared, with Elise knocked out into unconsciousness. The Duke was alive as well, but not for long, as he appeared to be dying from his wounds... The machine was gone, but in its place, as I saw...was what looked like a living sun, bristling with fire and energy all over. I...could feel its great power coming from it. So intense... It felt so...godlike..."

"...godlike...?" Klonoa asked. "...w-wait a minute. Are you implying that the Duke actually SUMMONED Solaris by mistake, instead of trying to talk to him?"

"I've looked back at this several times now. So, yes, that's what happened, Klonoa... And I definitely know that the Duke knew about his mistake as well, upon seeing Solaris himself."

"Huh...that's something. You guys actually summoned a god. That's fiction-turned-reality right there if you ask me." said Sonic, blinking his eyes. "So what happened next? Did Solaris go crazy on you?"

"No... Instead, it seemed that the accidential summoning had made him...unstable somehow, as the sun's fires had died down, and his core suddenly broke apart into pieces, with a black, oozing liquid dripping down from it... That's when THEY were born."

"They?" asked the cat.

"Now that I get the entire picture... Solaris became unstable, and was split into two halves. One of them you already know, Klonoa."

"...a black liquid... Mephiles?"

"Yes, him."

"...hmm... I see now." the cat said, looking thoughtfully. "So that's why he said those comments about the Duke earlier..."

"Hm, so that black crystal creep is one half of Solaris, then." said Sonic. "Who is the other half, then?"

"Whereas Mephiles is the black ooze...the other half came from the energy of the broken core." said Silver. "As soon as it fell apart, I could see a brightly-glowing energy orb floating where the core was. It then bursted and manifested itself into a large circle of raging fire and flames... The flames we would later call, 'The Flames of Disaster.' The flames Mephiles would later call by the name of Iblis."

"Iblis... He mentioned that name earlier." said the cat. "And that he wants to reuniX.X.X.X.X.X.X wait a minute..."

"Yes, that's exactly what he's trying to do now, Klonoa." said Silver. "To be reborn as Solaris once again."

"...huh... Typical." said Sonic. "Sounds like Perfect Chaos all over again if you ask me."

"...hm...so I've heard, Sonic." said the cat, looking at him. "After you defeated him the first time around, Chaos survived and went for all of the Emeralds in one go, becoming his true form after snatching the last one."

"Yeah. And if Chaos is anything to go by, not to mention Mephiles' apparent need for destruction, then Solaris will likely feel the need to destroy the world as well."

"Yes, we feel that is what will happen if we allowed Solaris to be reborn, as his two halves were already causing destruction after they split." said Silver.

"Really? Then how did you guys manage to stop them?"

"Well, it wasn't easy... After they were split, both the liquid and the flames quickly got away. But, thankfully, they never got out of the laboratory complex which was underground and away from the city. They only managed to destroy the labs themselves... While he was still alive, the Duke commanded me to go after them and stop them... I think he somehow knew what they both were before I even figured it out years later, as he gave me something specifically to stop the liquid... Hm.

"Anyway, I managed to corner them both." he continued. "Using the device I received, called the Scepter of Darkness, I stopped and sealed Mephiles wthin it first. Then, I went after Iblis. At first, I tried to destroy it using my powers, but all I could do was restrain the flames... I began to lose my grip on him, but then...the Duke came beside me, holding Elise in his arms..."

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Ten years ago... Lab Complex

"You have done well, my friend... But now, it is my time to perform my final act of service to the Soleannan people."

"My lord...! What are you doing...?"

The elderly, but tall lord of Soleanna stood there before the restrained flames, holding his unconscious Elise in his arms. Due to his mortal wounds, he was struggling to keep himself up and standing.

"I...should have never commissioned this project at all... I should have left the past alone... But I did not, and I have released this terrible, fallen abomination out into the mortal realm..."

"What are you talking about, my lord?" asked Silver, glowing bright green and holding Iblis back with his psychokinesis.

"But...no longer will these Flames of Disaster be allowed to roam the world anymore."

Still struggling, the Duke slowly kneeled down to the floor, letting his unconscious daughter lay on her back. He then stood up, and pulled out the red Chaos Emerald, holding it in his right hand.

"Huh...?" noticed the hedgehog.

"I must undo what I have done here... I cannot believe it has come to this...but alas."

Soon, the red Emerald glowed brightly, floating up into the air from his hand.

"Eternal Sun! The living flame that has been entrusted to the royal family... May it fall into slumber within one of us!"

With all of his remaining strength, the Duke made a swift up-and-down movement with both of his arms. The Emerald glowed even more brightly, and soon, Silver felt that the strength of the flames were waning.

A second later, the flames then somehow escaped Silver's psychokinetic restraints, surprising him and then seeing them fly up and straight down...right into Elise's body.

"What?"

He watched as the flames went straight inside her body, until they were no longer seen... Stopping his powers, he faced her, puzzled at what just happened.

"...ugh...!"

"Huh? My lord!"

Seeing him fall over, Silver quickly went to, kneeled, and caught the Duke before his back hit the ground... With his strength gone, the man's breathing was shallow and painful-sounding, as he was clearly dying. The Emerald had dropped to the ground as well.

"...it...is done... My duty...my service to the people...ugh..."

"M-my lord...! I still don't understand what's going on... Why did you do this in the first place? And whyX.X.X.X.X.X.X"

"You will understand in time...dear Silver. Friend and guardian of my dear daughter, Elise... Time shall let you know...what I have foolishly done here..."

The man then let out a dying cough, groaning afterwards.

"...my time is near... Heed my words, friend... You...must NEVER tell anyone...what has transpired here... Only to our high-ranking officials... If our people learn what has happened...their...very faith..in our god...will be shattered forever."

"Shattered...?" Silver asked, looking worried and sad.

The Duke slowly nodded. Slowly, he looked at Elise.

"...my dear daughter... The reins of Soleanna...I now pass on to you. Rule her well... Become a strong queen, no matter what happens..."

He then looked back at the white hedgehog, now struggling and shaking.

"And Silver... Please, continue to be...her guardian... Make sure...nothing happens...to the future queen... Make sure...that what we sealed in here together...never...gets...out..."

His eyes went back, closing them. His head drooped back, as life faded away from the once-proud ruler.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

"...oh, man... Wow..." frowned Klonoa, looking a bit sad.

Silver nodded, with his eyes closed. "And that's how it all happened."

"Hm, I see..." calmly said Sonic, looking a bit concerned.

Still in her chair, the princess was looking sad as well, holding her hands together.

"Father..."

Silver sighed, then he opened his eyes. "Well, now you guys know the whole story...and now you know why our people would not believe us."

"...because you summoned Solaris by accident, and had to seal him away afterwards." said Sonic. "And one of him is within the princess herself."

"That's correct."

"...hmm."

Klonoa's sad look changed into a thoughtful one, looking down.

"So that's how it happened, huh? Hmm... You know, what I don't get is...if Solaris created this city as a haven for those poor people he saved, then...why would he suddenly feel the need to destroy it and the world itself? I mean, if Mephiles' words are anything to go by, then...could the darker side of the world have gotten to him as well, making him see things in the wrong way? Was he...watching us the whole time, even though he departed a long time ago?"

"That could be likely." said Silver. "The flame that he left behind could've been something that allowed him to see the world through it."

"One of his 'eyes,' in other words." added Sonic.

"Yes."

Klonoa continued to ponder.

"...hmm... Then...if that's the case..."

The long, floppy-eared cat stood up from the couch, now looking determined.

"...as I've sort of said before, it reminds me a little too much of a guy named Duke Pantarei."

"...Duke Pantarei?" asked Elise, looking at the cat.

"Yeah, the man I've fought against at that floating city you guys saw, after the Adephagos appeared... Duke was trying to use the city to save the world his way, by sacrificing all of humanity to destroy the Adephagos."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah. Like what Mephiles said to us, Duke saw humanity as nothing but a sinful, selfish bunch. But that's really only because some people killed his friend, due to the power his friend displayed when they both participated in some war years ago... It's a long story, really... Ultimately, he realized his mistakes and redeemed himself when I defeated him in the end, and as I destroyed the Adephagos."

"Huh, I see."

"Interesting." noted Silver.

"Yep. These bad guys and their motives, they're all the same thing, really." added Sonic.

"Yeah." said Klonoa. "Somehow, though...I doubt Solaris would easily do the same as him... We'll have to see."

"Right. Uh, one question, though... If you guys sealed him away ten years ago, then...how the heck did Mephiles break out?" asked the blue hedgehog. "Where did you guys put the Scepter at in the first place, by the way?"

"That... In an area not too far from Soleanna, there are ancient ruins of a temple we used a long time ago." replied Silver. "We stored the Scepter there, hidden in the deepest depths of it... But as for how he got out, I have absolutely no clue... His attack on the city was sudden. We had no idea he was coming."

"So you didn't know..." said the cat. "Hmm..."

Klonoa looked down, thinking, now that he knew the whole story... Then, he looked ahead.

"Well, then...it's settled. I'm going to those ruins and get that Scepter from there. I'm going to seal Mephiles back in whenever he shows his face again."

Just then...

"...oh, I don't think so, Klonoa!"

"Huh? Whoa!"

...to all of their sudden surprise, the glass window wall behind Elise had violently shattered! Along with a huge force of energy that violently knocked Silver and Elise forward, hundreds of broken glass had quickly scattered everywhere and all over the room.

Having catapulted from her seat, the princess was sent flying towards Klonoa, knocking him over to the ground. Silver was sent flying towards the right end of the couch, landing roughly near it while Sonic was sent over the couch, crashing towards the ground on his front.

Seconds pass, and where the glass window was, there now floated the dark crystallic entity himself, still a clone of Silver, and with an evil look on his face.

"Ha ha ha! A violent surprise, no? Hmhmhm!"

Laying on his front, Klonoa slowly stood up and looked, angrily, with his fists clenched.

"Mephiles!"

"I cannot allow myself to be sealed within that cursed prison again, Klonoa. Not when I have this prime opportunity here right in front of me..."

The cat faced him. "I know. You're here for Elise, aren't you?"

"Exactly. Hm!"

The dark entity swiftly aimed his left hand at the princess. Before she could even stand up, she suddenly felt herself being pulled back by an invisible force.

"Aaah!"

"Huh? Elise!" Silver noticed from behind while standing up.

The princess now floated helplessly next to Mephiles, restrained by purple energy around her.

"What a surprise," he said. "That you now know what happened when the Duke of Soleanna tried to talk to the one god he and the city so revered and worship... Hm. As the conscious mind of Solaris, meaning that I AM Solaris himself...I now regret coming to this world in the very first place."

"What? You're his conscious mind...?" asked the cat.

"Correct...and Iblis is my body, my raw power, trapped within the confines of this woman here!"

With that rageful shout, the purple energy around Elise had intensified, making her scream in great pain.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!"

Seeing her, an angry Silver suddenly began to glow bright green.

"Eliiiise!"

In retaliation, the psychokinetic hedgehog threw a large green energy arrow at the dark entity. But upon reaching him, Mephiles deflected it away with his right hand.

"It's no use, my dear Silver... The god you worship and revere is about to be reborn!"

"Grrrr... No!"

Just then, Sonic jumped over the couch and looked at Mephiles in determination.

"You aren't gonna be reborn as Solaris, you creep! Not if our Chaos energy has anything to say about it!"

"...ah, yes... The Chaos Emeralds..." said the dark one, looking at Sonic. "Another reason why this is a prime opportunity for me... I must admit, their power frightened the likes of me. But, it also proved to me that they're what I need to reunite with Iblis."

"...what? You knew about the Emeralds all along?" asked Klonoa.

"From my time in the Scepter, yes... Ha ha ha! You are a fool for coming here, blue hedgehog! You're ALL fools for bringing together what I require!"

With that shout, he swiftly aimed his right hand at Sonic.

"Uh...!"

Pain suddenly shot through Sonic's body, making him stumble a bit. Then, he suddenly felt that the Emeralds were pulling themselves out of him. Soon, they all jerked themselves out of him.

"Sonic! No!" shouted Klonoa, seeing all seven Emeralds swiftly float over to Mephiles, with Sonic falling to his knees.

The dark entity laughed as the Emeralds were now floating around him.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Finally! I have waited so long for this! It is time, for the final curtain call!"

He then fixed his now wide-eyed gaze on Elise.

"Iiiiibliiiiis! Time for our grand reunion! Release yourself from your prisoooooon!"

The energy around Elise grew stronger, making her scream louder and more painfully. Soon, to Silver's shock and horror, a long pillar of fiery flames came bursting out of her body.

"No, no, NOOO!"

After the entirety of the flames went out of her, she fainted and collapsed. Seeing no more use for her, Mephiles threw her back to where Silver was. He quickly caught her using his powers...and while Mephiles gave her back, he was still in shock and horror at what was about to transpire.

And all Klonoa and Sonic, still on his knees, could do was sit there and watch.

The Flames of Disaster now surrounded its dark crystallic mind like an orb, with the Chaos Emeralds glowing brightly. Mephiles was shaking, as his lost power was now coming back to him.

"The body and mind...shall become one to regain its lost heart..." he calmly said.

Then, as he shook further and further, with the flames closing in on him, he then shouted in a distorted, yet godlike voice:

"The light of the Eternal Sun shall finally make its final judgment upon the woooooorld!"

A gigantic, bright, white light suddenly exploded from where he was, with huge, great energy winds coming from it. All three of them in the castle shielded themselves, struggling against it.

The great light then proceeded to engulf the castle itself and the island, as well as a great portion of the ocean...

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

1:41p.m.

"...uh...ugh..."

Having been blacked out by the great energy before, Klonoa slowly came to his senses. He found himself lying on a sandy surface, and pushed himself up with his arms, shaking his head.

Standing up slowly, Klonoa found himself on the edge of the beach, near Castle Town as he could tell... Noticing his hat on the ground, and feeling that something was definitely wrong here, he reached for his collar and buckled it off, dropping it to the sand next to his hat, leaving him as his natural, black-furred self.

Now standing straight, the long-eared cat immediately noticed what was ahead of him in the air, shocking him in disbelief.

"...!"

The sky had changed into a deep purple color, and the sun wasn't there at all, nowhere to be found... What now floated above the sea, next to the now-destroyed castle, was a gigantic, white, living creature of sorts. It appeared to be made out of crystal or stone of some sort, and its upper body appeared anthropomorphic for the most part. It had no lower body; instead, what descended from the upper body appeared to resemble a large blade with a pointy end. The entity overall looked muscular, and both of its arms were equipped with green armor. Its fingers weren't human-looking; they resembled more like the end part of a construction crane.

The entity had a face, though it was part of the green armor that it adorned on its chest. The face was eagle-like, with some kind of long ears drooping from each side of its head, and its head sported a set of reindeer-like horns from each side as well, growing from the back of the head.

A large symbol, made from the same material as its body. was behind it. It resembled a sun, and was constantly rotating in a clockwise direction. Its eagle eyes were glowing bright yellow as well.

Now that this gigantic creature was in the air and feeling its immense power, Klonoa now knew. This was no ordinary powerful creature or monster... This entity...was the Eternal Sun God himself.

"...Solaris."

With the winds moving his long ears gracefully, and the seawater touching his bare, white furry feet, Klonoa stood there, looking determined at the god himself.

Soon, even though it was part of the armor itself, Solaris moved his head and looked down at the long-eared cat.

"So...you are up..." he said, now with a deep, godlike voice. "I believed you would still be sleeping into darkness by now, not waking up until this world is in my flame... But at least, they are still sleeping."

Hearing that, Klonoa looked around. Scattered around him were Sonic, Silver, and Elise, all still unconscious from the earlier blast.

Looking at them, he then looked back at Solaris.

"They will wake up, since you imply so... But Sonic, I know he will wake up sooner than you think... Regardless of whether they can help me or not, though, you must know this. Even though you may have absorbed the power of the Chaos Emeralds, even though you are complete now...I still have the power to stop you. I can, and WILL defeat you, Solaris!"

"So you say. So you claim... You may have surprised me before with your power, but now that I am whole once again, your power is nothing compared to mine... I am a god, and the power of a mere mortal can only do so much to an invincible being like me. Even when that same mortal has received, or fused with, the power from such legendary items."

"...hmph... Well, hear me out, then. God or no god, you are NOT going to destroy this world!" yelled the cat, making a fist at the gigantic entity. "I will put every effort in to make sure you don't! ...and by the way, Solaris, what changed you? The legend about you said you had good intentions in the first place. Bringing in poor people to this city that you created yourself... What happened? Did the Duke's accidential summoning brainwash you or something?"

"...time happened... Contrary to what the legend foretells, I did not depart this world... I never did... The flame of hope that I purportedly left behind...it was not just a piece of me. In reality, it was my whole being, reduced to such a tiny, single flame... I chose to remain here on this planet, to see what the rest of the world was like...to see if there were more that needed my blessing. My help.

"But as time passed by," continued Solaris. "To my great dismay, I began to see the darker side of this world... Wars, hate, greed, mindless slaughter of one another...even more that were in poverty than the ones that I helped... They all greatly disturbed me. And they were constant. Never ending... By the time the Duke of my city tried to use me for his own purposes, it was at that point that I grew convinced...that this world needed to end. It needed a god to pass swift judgment on it. It needed to learn a long-deserved lesson... A lesson that will show that I now regret coming to this world in the first place."

Klonoa lowered his fist and stood straight. "...I see now... You're just like him after all... Hm..."

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

As Solaris floated above the ocean, soon, the citizens of Soleanna began to notice him from varying distances. Some were wondering what that giant bird thing in the air was, some saw it as simply a giant monster that came to destroy the city...and others were convinced that it was their Eternal Sun visiting them.

Nevertheless, they all felt a great uneasiness about it...

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

With his eyes closed, Klonoa stood there. with his fists at his sides. Now that he was the only one who woke up...much like the event with the destructive Adephagos before, the fate of the world now rested on his shoulders.

The cat opened his now-slanted eyes. His eyes themselves were now dark blue.

"Destroying the world, when there's people who are innocent and don't do those horrible things you listed, will get you nowhere, Solaris... So what if they do those things all the time? At least we learn from them. Just as the Duke learned from what he's done that caused all of this in the first place... And even if they refuse to learn, well, there's always people like me that can put them where they belong."

"...you are implying that the world will be eventually free of its torments, and that it will live in eternal peace... Do you really believe that, Klonoa?"

"No one can predict the future...but it really should be that way, as long as people continue to learn... And if you disagree, Solaris..."

As the cat stood there, strong energy winds began to emit from him, moving his long ears, bangs, and short tail along with them. He looked up at the god as his bangs spike upwards.

"...then you leave me no choice."

With that, a quick flash of light occurred, and Klonoa transformed, with his golden yellow fur and his golden, particle energy aura around him, now majestically moving his golden ears along.

Flying upwards from the beach, the golden long-eared cat stopped in the air so that Solaris was directly ahead of him. Looking determined as ever, he put his right hand forward, summoning his Wind Ring in its sword hilt form.

Activating his Saber, Super Klonoa then slowly went into a ready stance, preparing to do battle with the Eternal Sun.

"...so be it, then..." said Solaris. "I will pass my judgment onto you first... Prepare!"

"Let's go, then!"

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

"Shadows of Our Past"

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Events from the past, the mere actions of one single person...even those that may seem insignificant... One way or another, they can have significant impacts on the future.

What started as a man's desire to bring a loved one back from the grave has now led all the way to this: a battle between a god and a golden hero... The final battle, like all others, that will determine the fate of the world.

The Eternal Sun, Solaris, and the Golden Dreamer, Super Klonoa, now floated in the air face-to-face, with Klonoa in a stance with his Saber, determined to stop the bird god from destroying the world.

After a second, Solaris crossed both of his armored arms in an "X" position. Several large purple and red portals, representative of his two sides that now joined to form the god himself, opened up all around him.

"And so it begins. Face my wrath, mortal being..."

With that, the portals around him began to fire large rocks of molten lava at Klonoa at a swift speed. As they came, the long-eared cat swiftly dodged and slashed at them with his Saber... Just as the first wave finished, another wave of rocks was being fired at him.

Slashing here and dodging there at a fast pace, he kept it up. But then, yet another wave of them was fired at him...

...and another...and another...

'...seems like he isn't giving me a chance to attack...' he thought, as he continued to dodge and slash. 'Well, it won't work for long!'

After he dodged the last wave of rocks, the cat immediately focused on Solaris, powered up a bit, and blasted off towards the god with the Saber over his left shoulder, ready to swipe one on the god.

He neared him, swinging his Saber at him...

"Eat this!"

...and tried to land a huge horizontal slash on Solaris' head, but the god quickly moved his right armored arm in front, effectively blocking the blow of great force... Klonoa struggled against it.

"Ngh...!"

"...it is futile..." said Solaris. "Perish."

As his counterattack, quickly lowering his arm, Solaris used his left crane-like hand to conjure up a huge ball of blue energy and shoved it right towards the cat, exploding on and knocking him away to the god's right.

"Aaagh!"

The cat went spinning far away in that direction. But he soon stopped and regained himself, shaking his head and gritting his teeth angrily at Solaris.

"Grrr... Huh?"

Like before, the god faced him and resumed his rock barrage attack.

"Not again! You won't stop me!"

Blasting off in an instant, this time, the speed and power of the cat and his aura plowed through any rocks that were being thrown at him. Seeing him coming, right as Klonoa was about to slash, Solaris moved his right arm in front and blocked it again.

"Grrrr...aaaahhhh!"

Deciding not to struggle, with a loud yell, the cat began to continuously hit on the god's armored arm with constant strong force, trying to do some damage to the giant behemoth. But despite his strong blows, the armor never seemed to show signs of breaking or damage to it.

After one last huge attempt...

'...grr, how come I'm not doing any damage to him?' thought Klonoa, looking angry. '...ah, maybe...!'

Quickly backing up, the cat swiftly raised his left hand up, conjured up a large, golden energy ball, and with a grunt, threw it at the arm, largely exploding on it with strong force. But as the smoke faded, the armor STILL appeared unaffected.

"...darn! That didn't work either! ...hmm!"

Klonoa backed up farther away and floated there with his Saber down. Solaris moved his arm away.

"Really...again, what can a mere mortal do to an invincible being like me?" asked the god. "You try so hard, and yet you fail to damage me... Hmm."

The cat just floated there in determination, looking at him all over and searching for a way to effectively damage the god...

Meanwhile, below the battle in the sky...

"...ugh...oh..."

Finally waking up from unconsciousness, Sonic slowly pushed himself up with his arms, against the sand he was now on. Slowly standing up, he shook his head.

"...oh man, feels like someone dropped a huge rock on me... Ugh... HuhX.X.X.X.X., what the...?"

Soon, to his right, both Silver and Elise woke and stood up as well...respectively letting out a surprised grunt and gasp at the same time.

Indeed, they all saw the huge monstrosity that was Solaris himself, facing Klonoa ahead.

"That's...Solaris?" asked Elise, calmly.

"No doubt..." replied Silver, looking both determined and surprised.

"Great, another giant monster... Can't get enough of 'em." added Sonic.

Up in the air, Klonoa continued to study his enemy thoroughly...

'...I'm strong... I know I am... I have many techniques that can easily finish off many enemies, but I can only think of one that'll do damage to this guy...that can break his armor apart... I can only hope it works.'

The cat went into a stance.

'If this doesn't work...then...what I used against both Duke and the Adephagos, what no one else saw but Duke himself... I can only hope it comes to me in the darkness again.'

Solaris looked at him, waiting for his move.

"...as every second passes, my need to judge the world for its sins grows... Are you not making your next turn? If not..."

The large, rotating symbol of the sun behind Solaris suddenly stopped, and like a wheel going at 20 miles-per-hour, it instantly flung itself into the opposite direction, never appearing to slow down.

"...then it is time that your soul returns to where it came from!"

With that, the bird god positioned his crane-like hands to where they were facing each other. Soon, orange sparkles of energy came out of both hands, going into each other and slowly forming a spherical shape.

"Hm?" Klonoa watched.

The sparkles soon stopped flowing into it...and soon, the sphere suddenly increased in size and flared up, with great energy, into a giant ball of fire. This surprised Klonoa.

"Huh?"

"...I am not called the Eternal Sun for nothing... Now you shall burn within my flame!"

Similar to his earlier rock barrage, Solaris now used his ball of fire to shoot out many minature, but still large, fireballs at the golden cat, at larger quantity and with greater speed than before.

"Whoa!"

As they came, Klonoa tried to dodge and deflect them with his Saber. But they soon proved to be far too many and far too fast for him.

"Ugh! Ah! Aaaaaaagh!"

He was now constantly hit by the fireballs, as they burned and seared away at him with great pain... Smoke began to build up, now blocking him from sight.

"Klonoa!" yelled Silver.

Now that the god that she and the city worshipped so much was out in the open, battling a hero who was now renowned for defeating the Adephagos, Elise fell to her knees in shock.

"That's Solaris...? What...how will our people respond to this...?"

"Darn! That attack looks too powerful for Klonoa to handle!" exclaimed Silver. "If only you still had the Emeralds, Sonic... We might've helped him beat Solaris!"

"If only I still had them... But no, that creep just HAD to take them." replied Sonic. "Ah, but Klonoa could still give the power to us if he feels that Solaris is too powerful for him to handle alone... But that's entirely up to him, though."

"Up to him...? Sonic, he's being blasted to bits! He has to!"

"Hey, we were unconscious! This battle could've just started, you know... And if it has..."

Sonic smiled.

"...then its better to let him decide. I know he could endure so much more than that... Just watch."

"Uh... Hm."

Silver watched on.

As the bird god continued his attack, the smoke cloud continued to build up, until...

"I shall show you your mortality now!"

...Solaris stopped his barrage, and with great force, he flung the giant ball of fire at the cloud. He expected it to explode on contact, but...

"Hyah!"

...to his surprise, a greater force suddenly seemed to deflect the ball out of the cloud and right back at him!

"What?"

The ball greatly exploded on Solaris instead, knocking him back a bit... The resulting smoke faded, and he regained, looking at the smoke ahead. His sun symbol stopped rotating completely.

"Impossible... How could he...?"

Soon, the cloud faded, and there still floated Klonoa in a stance, with a really determined look on his face. His aura was flowing wilder than before, with his long ears flowing wilder as well. Thanks to the attack from before, his fur had small burnt marks all over.

His Saber, however, had suddenly seemed to grow a bit longer and bigger...

"Nice... You really hurt me with that one. But obviously, it wasn't enough to bring me down like you thought... It's bad to get hurt by your own attack, huh?" the cat said.

"...how did you...? Ngh..."

"Hmph... Earlier, I couldn't hurt you, no matter how hard I tried... But now, I may have something that can break past that armor of yours!"

"...ngh?"

"Yeah...and I'm putting everything on this one!"

Klonoa's aura suddenly speeded up a bit, growing larger as well...

"Aaaaaaaaaaah...! Hyah!"

With that loud yell, the Wind Saber suddenly grew five feet longer and five feet wider, making it much bigger than before! Its color also changed from green to golden yellow, with winds constantly circling around it.

"Whoa, wow, look at his sword!" exclaimed Silver, surprised.

"...that does look like it could rip Solaris a new one." said Sonic, smiling.

Gritting his teeth angrily, the golden Super cat was ready...

"I swear, if this doesn't work...! If I can't stop you here...! Grrr...! ...who WILL?"

Furiously blasting off with that loud, angry yell, the Golden Dreamer reached for Solaris, making his enemy move his arm in front of him. Klonoa swiftly raised his giant Saber and...

"WIND FOOOORRRRCE!"

...swung it down on the armor, making a gigantic impact of golden energy and electricity on it. Cracks started appearing on it, spreading all over it...and then, the armor finally broke apart.

"...? Urrrrarrrrgh!"

The Saber then slashed Solaris' arm heavily as it went past the now-broken armor, knocking him far back as well... Stopping himself in the air and regaining, he just floated there and in a drooping way, as the pieces of his armor fell into the ocean below.

"...agh...how can...how can this be? You..."

"I'm not done yet!"

"What?"

Klonoa was swiftly coming for him again.

"...periiiiish!"

Not wanting to let the rest of his armor be destroyed as well, Solaris moved his arms away and reopened the portals, trying to stop him with the rocks. Like before, Klonoa just plowed through them all.

Aiming for it, he flew right to the god's left armored arm and swung his Saber at it sideways, making another great impact of energy. The armor broke, his left arm being slashed greatly, and he was knocked over to Klonoa's left.

"Aaarrrgh!"

Regaining and floating near the now-destroyed castle, Solaris re-faced Klonoa, shaking a bit due to the damage on both of his arms.

"...why...how...? You're just a mortal being!"

"Does it really matter?" asked Klonoa. "By the way...looking at you, your face and chest seem to be made out of the same material as your armor... I bet its really a mask to hide your true self!"

The cat blasted off again.

"No! Stop!"

Despite his short pleas, the cat didn't listen... Nearing the god, Klonoa suddenly flew up into the air, and with a loud scream...

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

...inflicted a huge, descending, downward slash on Solaris' head and chest, also massively knocking him away.

As he finished his attack, Klonoa floated there in a stance, heavily breathing due to his efforts to break his enemy, and watching what was about to transpire next.

Solaris stopped in the air... Suddenly, he was still, not appearing to move an inch... A few seconds later, a huge slit appeared on his face and chest. His eyes went dim...and his mask and armor finally broke apart.

Everyone now saw what was behind the armor.

"Is that...?" asked Silver.

"His core... No doubt!" said Sonic.

Above the blade-like lower body, and below the odd-looking structure that was now seen, there was a large opening in-between. And in the opening, a swirling, sun-like red core floated in the middle of it.

Thanks to Klonoa, the core also had a slit on it...

Suddenly, what remained of Solaris twitched wildly. Explosions then flared up all over him.

Thinking that he finally defeated the god, Klonoa floated up straight and powered down, with his aura fading and his Saber going back to its normal, green form.

With explosions all over, Solaris fell into the ocean in a defeated way, submerging into the water with his right arm going last.

"...see, what'd I tell you, huh? He didn't need our help after all." grinnned Sonic, looking at Silver.

"I...guess." replied Silver, staring at what just happened. He then smiled. "But then again, he DID take out that giant octopus thing in the sky... I guess I should've never doubted him in the first place."

"Heh!"

A few seconds pass... The golden cat was staring down at where Solaris fell, with a suspicious look on his face...

'...something's not right... The energy that I felt when I broke his mask... It's still there... And...'

He looked up at the sky.

'...why is the sky still purple? It should've gone back to normal by now...'

Back on the beach, Silver was walking to Elise and kneeled down to her, trying to comfort her.

"...I know what you're thinking... That you're gonna have a difficult timX.X.X.X.X.X.X"

"It's not over." interrupted Elise.

"Huh...?"

Sonic heard her. "What?"

"It's not over." she said again. "I can feel his consciousness... It's expanding!"

"Expanding...? Huh?"

Suddenly, Klonoa felt that the god's energy was increasing, hitting his mind like a rock... Then, a huge, greenish-gold light suddenly flared up from the ocean.

"Darn, I knew it wasn't over!" exclaimed the cat. "Grr...!"

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the bird god slowly rose from the ocean, now seemingly in a new golden form of his... As before, he remained armorless, with the same main body and with his core out in the open, albeit with the slit gone. But the symbol behind him had changed; it was now that of the winged bird seen everywhere in Soleanna, except with the wings folded.

The light faded, and the newly-transformed Solaris crossed his arms. Moving them away, his golden wings expanded, and he let out one long, ethereal-sounding cry:

"Solaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr!"

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

"Oh my word, it IS our god!"

"He's come to give us salvation!"

"He's come to judge us! Punish us for our sins!"

The people of Soleanna now saw the transformed Solaris and his recognizable bird symbol. Indeed, doubt had faded from their minds; this was definitely their Eternal Sun.

Whether he's here for either salvation or judging, only the hero facing him knows...

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

"Grrr... Solaris!" shouted Klonoa angrily.

"Congratulations," said the bird god. "You have forced me to awaken my true form! The Eternal Sun at full power! Now you shall know my true wrath... The wrath of the sun!"

"Grrr..." Klonoa growled.

"I must admit... You have surprised me twice already, Klonoa. I never thought that a mere mortal like you could hold so much power... Perhaps I underestimated the power of the Chaos Emeralds... But, no longer will you surprise me any further. Everything has a limit in this universe, and my limits are now far beyond yours."

Fists clenched and shaking with anger, the golden Super cat swiftly went into a stance, powering up with his golden aura.

"We'll see about that!"

"Great, he has a second form." said Sonic on the beach. "Just when you thought you defeated him..."

"...that core..." said Elise, looking up at it. "It's his consciousness. I can feel it... Klonoa must destroy it to defeat him."

"Don't need to plainly state the obvious. I think he knows already."

"Didn't he damage it already?" asked Silver.

"Yeah, and Solaris should've been destroyed already." replied Sonic. "But I guess somehow, it only destroyed his first form. Since he says he's in his true form, destroying it again should do the trick!"

Once again, the Eternal Sun and the Golden Dreamer stared at each other, about to start the second round.

"...even though you transformed, you still don't have your armor back." said the cat. "All I have to do now is focus on your little core there!"

"...is it as easy as you think, though...? Come!"

With that, Klonoa blasted off towards him. Nearing his core, the cat tried to attack it...

"You'll gonna regret thiX.X.X.X.X.X.X-waaaaaah!"

...but something bounced him off. Regaining, he saw that there was now a force field around Solaris, indicative of the water-like ripple waves originating to where he tried to attack him.

"A shield?"

"Yes... It now wards off any living beings who come near me... Even you."

"Grrr..."

"Oh, great, he puts invisible armor on..." said Sonic. "Man..."

"...now then...it is time you shall know true pain..." said the god.

"Oh no, you don't! I'm gonna break your shield just as I've brokeX.X.X.X.X.X.X Agh!"

Before he could finish, Klonoa was hit by a giant rock of molten lava that came out of a portal that opened right next to him, burning and knocking him away. Before he could regain...

"Aaaagh!"

...he was quickly hit by another rock of lava, burning and knocking him away again. While he was sent flying, another rock from a nearby portal, hitting him again.

Like a pinball, various portals keep opening up and throwing rocks at him, constantly knocking him away in random directions every time.

Having already been burned by Solaris' earlier attack, as the rocks constantly hit him, Klonoa felt greater pain than before... Deciding to retaliate, he quickly flipped himself upright and tried to quickly slash the next incoming rock...

"What?"

...but the portal he faced closed up and another one opened up right behind him.

"Aaagh!"

"Klonoa, get out of his trap!" shouted Sonic.

The pinball-slinging resumed, hurting Klonoa further, until...

"True pain, indeed..."

...Solaris decided to open up one large portal and throw out a very large molten rock at the golden cat.

"Ugh...what the?"

The big rock was coming at him from the god's direction. As soon as it came, Klonoa tried to block and hold it back with his Saber, now struggling against it.

"Uh...ugh...!"

"As this world will soon learn," Solaris said. "All things must come to an end..."

As Klonoa struggled against it, the big rock suddenly exploded on him, greatly knocking him back!

"Aaaaaagh!"

"Klonoa!" shouted Sonic again.

Flying backwards, the long-eared cat soon descended and crashed down on the beach, sliding backwards on the sand with his body smoking. His aura had faded away.

"Klonoa!"

Seeing him crash down near them, both Sonic and Silver quickly ran for him. Sonic quickly kneeled to him.

"Are you alright, man?"

"Ugh..."

A second later, the cat opened his eyes, shook his head, and growled angrily at Solaris. He slowly stood up, struggling to stand thanks to the pain he now suffered from.

"Solaris has gotten smarter and more powerful than before... I couldn't even escape from his portals! They now open up right near me instead of near him! ...grrr, he's gonna pay!"

"Wait, Klonoa!" Sonic exclaimed, making Klonoa stop in the air. "If you go out there, he's just gonna trap you with his portals again!"

"...then how am I supposed to beat him?" the cat asked, facing the hedgehog.

"You can't." said Silver. "Not without us."

"Huh...? Oh yeah, that's right...!"

However, Solaris quickly realized what they were going to do...

"...if you surely believe that uniting against me will save you from my judgment, then it is a false belief... Either way..."

The bird god suddenly began to tremble and shake wildly... A spot on the frontal side of his core was now turning and glowing blue, appearing to gather energy as well.

The god's trembling and shaking had reached its peak, and the core's energy gathering soon stopped.

"...I will not allow it! I have grown tired of playing these petty games! This has gone on long enooooooooooough!"

As if it was water bursting out of a container, the core's blue energy wildly bursted out of it, shooting it out in the form of a very, very huge blue energy beam that was swiftly heading towards the group at the beach!

"Huh? Look out!"

"Huh?"

Klonoa turned around and quickly saw that the beam was heading straight for him! Quickly realizing that there was no time to escape...

"...aaaaahhh... Ugggggggh!"

...it was either this, or let his friends die as well. It was the former that he chose, and now he found himself blocking against the huge beam with his Saber. The initial contact with the beam had made a force so great that it instantly knocked the others away, and now great, huge energy winds were constantly emitting from this struggle, with the ground constantly shaking.

Having just flung away from the clash, Sonic landed on his feet and saw the struggle ahead.

"Klonoaaa!"

"Ugh...! Huh? Get out of here, Sonic!"

"But...!"

"I said get out of here! I'm holding him back for you guys to get away!"

Sonic just stood there in shock and with a bit of a sad look... Solaris just fired a huge, powerful, deadly energy beam at them out that likely could've killed them all, if it wasn't for Klonoa's saving throw.

"...what are you doing, Sonic? Go! This whole area's about to explode from this! You're gonna get killed if you don't move!" angrily shouted Klonoa.

"But what about you?"

"...I'll...I'll be fine! Let...let him do this to me! I'll come back... Don't worry! Just trust me! ...believe it or not, this is the only way to find the power that I need to defeat him! I did it this way to defeat both Duke and the Adephagos! Now, please! GOOOOO!"

"Uh...!"

Not wanting to let his best friend die in the explosion for all of them, Sonic hesitated... He took a step back...then he finally decided to let go, as his shocked and sad look faded away.

"...I don't know what you mean by finding the power you need...but I have a strange feeling that...we just might win this after all."

Sonic then speeded off.

"Such a sacrifice..." said the bird god. "Shame that it is only in vain!"

'...so he seems to believe... Well...I can only hope that, like last time, the power that I need...will come to me in the darkness...'

Closing his eyes and frowning, Klonoa deactivated his Saber... In slow-motion, he let himself fall backwards...as the light slowly engulfed him.

'I hope it kept its promise..."

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Darkness... Pure, total darkness... The blackest of all blacks...that now filled everywhere, and everything.

But despite this total, surrounding darkness...there stood someone in the very center of it all...who had just arrived here in this dark void... Did he really just arrive here, though? Not even he could tell time in this dark dimension.

Feeling no pain, no struggling feeling...absolutely nothing but utter peace...Klonoa, as his normal black self, stood there, with his head looking downwards. Oddly enough, not only he had his accessories on, including his collar, but he also had his old blue shirt and dark blue shorts on as well.

Soon...the cat began to hear a familiar voice in his head.

'So...you are here again... Come.'

Klonoa slowly lifted his head up, with a drowsy-eyed, blank look on his face... Ahead of him, as soon as he looked, there was a door.

Walking slowly over to it, he stopped in front of it. The door was of a light purple color, with a yellow moon symbol.

Without changing his expression, Klonoa soon recognized this door, and as soon as he did, another voice was heard in his mind.

'It's time you must go back to your world... Back to your Phantomile.'

The cat slowly reached for the door without moving. As he did, the door opened inward, and it then dispersed into nothing, revealing another door ahead.

Seeing it, but before walking over to it, the cat noticed and felt that his blue hat was being lifted up from his head. It flew backwards, making him look back, as the hat soon faded into the void.

After a second, facing ahead like he didn't care, he walked on and stopped at the next door.

This door was different than the previous: it was brown, and looked more like a church entrance door, with multi-colored glass on the upper part of it... This time, he heard two separate voices in his mind.

'I'm not a failure! I'm not a failure! I'm a real priestess!'

'Why do you hate sorrow? Resist it? Why...?'

As soon as they finished, like before, the door dispersed into nothing, revealing yet another door ahead...and soon, as he looked, his yellow gloves seemed to slid themselves off of his white hands, fading into the void like his hat before them... With the gloves off, his hands now seemed to be glowing bright white...

Still with the same blank look, he lowered his hands and continued onto the next door ahead.

With every door ahead, each one representing a piece of his own past, he neared each, hearing the voices from his past...and with the opening of each door, he would lose a piece of his clothing.

With the third door...

'Dreams? Ha! Such nonsense! This empire doesn't need something as pathetic as dreaming!'

...even though he appeared to be standing, his red shoes came off, falling into the endless void below. Like his hands, his white feet appeared to be glowing bright white as well.

With the fourth door...

'Curse you, Klonoa! You ruined my great gear machine!'

...he looked down, seeing the zipper on his blue shirt zip itself down, separating at the end of it. He moved his arms back, letting the shirt pull itself off of him and down the arms. It then faded into the void like the rest, and now only Klonoa's collar and shorts remain.

With the fifth door...

'What a prettiful weapon you got there, Klonoa... But is it a match for my deadly claws?'

...his shorts pulled themselves down, past his short tail, and fell into the void... Even though it was visible before, the white end of his tail now glowed bright white like his hands and feet.

Finally, with the final door, this time, he heard many voices at once. Many innumerable voices..those from recent events... His collar unbuckled itself off of him, now leaving Klonoa naked as he was back in the living realm, and still with the same drowsy-looking expression as always.

With the dispersing of the final door, what now awaited him was a giant sphere of energy floating above him in the void. The sphere appeared to be divided in color: a swirling mixture of colors was in the left side, while it was pure white in the right.

Klonoa recognized it... This was where the initial voice came from. This was what he was hoping for. This was what promised him. And this was the very source from which his Super form and wind abilities came from.

This was the energy fusion that formed when the Chaos Emeralds tried to make contact with Klonoa, but ended up attached and co-existing with his wind energy.

'...Chaotic Wind...' thought Klonoa. 'You kept your promise after all.'

'Yes, and I see you are in dire need of your true power again.'

'Yes... Please, lend me it so I can save the world again... Please...'

'...I will. But first...do you remember what I said last time?'

'...yes...that I will not be the same after this second time, as a trade-off for me unlocking the ability to access this true power without going into this void again... And by that, you mean my normal Super form's appearance...'

'Correct... This second visit into this void would not have happened, and I would not have made that promise, if you allowed me to stay permanently fused...to stay as wholly one. But you refused, stating that you...'

'...wanted to keep looking like Super Sonic... I know... But...I HAVE been doing some thinking about this, though...and I've decided now...to change... For many reasons... Besides...'

A smile finally appeared on Klonoa's face.

'...just as yellow is the opposite of blue...'

'...right... Well, be warned once again. Once I become as one again, I cannot back out like last time. I used that failsafe last time, and now it is gone... This process is completely irreversable. Are you sure you want to change?'

'It's either this, or let the world fall. Do it!'

'Very well...'

As an unknown amount of time passed by, Klonoa watched as the dividing line in the sphere faded away, and both the rainbow energy of Chaos and the white energy of the wind now swirled in and out together in all areas of the sphere.

The sphere soon slowly shrunk in size and descended towards Klonoa, where he now held it together with his hands. The remaining white areas of himself began to glow bright white as well, and he closed his eyes.

'Hang on, guys. I'm coming back.'

Putting his now-complete energy fusion close to his black, furry chest, the long-eared cat slowly curled up his entire body...as if he was a baby in the womb waiting to be born anew.

A brilliant white light slowly began to fill into the surrounding black void.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Soleanna

"No... Is...is Klonoa...dead?"

Just several seconds ago, a massive blue explosion took place, that shook everyone and everything to the very ground. Indeed, all of Soleanna felt and witnessed the deadly explosion that Solaris just tried to fire on the group of heroes as well as the princess herself.

Now, as the resulting huge cloud of smoke dispersed, there lay a huge crater at the point of impact...and in the very center of it lay the unconscious long-eared cat, face flat and no longer in Super form.

At sight of the seemingly dead cat, Silver fell to his knees in shock and with despair on his face.

"Is he...? What are we going to do now?"

Looking at the crater, Elise walked up to Sonic's left side... Both of them stared at the crater, looking like they both felt something coming from it.

"...what a fool he was. Sacrificing his life to save the rest of you..." said Solaris, looking at the crater. "It is only delaying the inevitable for this world."

"...is it, Solaris?" asked Sonic, smiling all of a sudden. "Look."

"Huh...? What...?"

As the bird god soon noticed, a massive circle of winds now constantly circled around the crater... To his surprise, the cat's body was now floating out of the crater, stopping a bit above it.

With his body still looking like he was dead, staying still in the air...Klonoa finally moved, now floating upright with his head looking up and his arms moving into a wide position. His long ears were moving wildly with the winds. With a quick flash, the cat transformed into his golden Super form with no aura around him...

...but little did they all know, he wasn't about to stay golden yellow for long...

"...impossible..." Solaris said, surprised at this.

"Klonoa?" Silver noticed, now standing up.

Soon, they all saw something, as Klonoa now floated straight and looked ahead. He opened his slanted eyes. They were no longer dark blue. They were red.

Like water or paint seeping out of its container, covering everything as it seeped out...as they all saw, the white color on where it was seen on him began to seep out, slowly spreading and covering everything that was golden. It slowly seeped up his ears, up his body from the tail, up his arms and legs, all over his face from his muzzle, and finally up his spiky bangs... Everything on him became pure white.

"...huh? What's going on?" asked Sonic, puzzled at this. "He's..."

"...white now?" finished Silver.

As his permanent color change finished, the winds around the crater faded away...and a great, pure white, particle aura now bursted around him, surrounding him.

Solaris now saw him, greatly confused by what just happened.

"...what is the meaning of this...? Why has he been brought back to life? ...and why is he suddenly white?"

Super Klonoa, now all-white with red eyes, looked all over his changed appearance... This was how he looked like when he destroyed the Adephagos, what no one else saw but Duke...until now.

And he knew, from his moments in the void, that his Super form was going to look this way until the very end.

'All-white... Hm...' he thought. 'I can feel my true power now. It's calling out to me, wanting me to use it...'

Smiling, he looked up at the bird god, who was still confused.

'It's time to end this, then.'

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

End of ch.2.

Final chapter: "The Dreamer of Light." Coming soon!


	3. The Dreamer of Light

Super Klonoa Unleashed

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Wrath of the Sun

by Super Klonoa

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Characters © SEGA and Namco Bandai

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Final Chapter: "The Dreamer of Light"

"5OUL"

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

1:50p.m.

Soleanna, the City of Water. A city with a deep religious background. A background that just became reality, in an unfortunate way.

With the sky in an ominous-feeling purple color, the god that this city worshipped from the beginning was now threatening to destroy the very creation he had made, as well as the planet itself. The world was now on the brink of having its sins purged by him.

All that now stood before him was the one who previously saved this world from the terrible cataclysm known as the Adephagos. All hopes now rest with this shining white hero...

"Solaris! Thought you defeated me, huh?"

"How...how did you come back from death? That last blast should have sent your soul out of this world...!"

Floating above the crater, the newly rejuvenated, all-white-furred, red-eyed Super Klonoa was facing the Eternal Sun God up ahead, smiling, and with a brilliant white particle aura around him that moved his ears elegantly...

"...hm, true, that last blast you fired on us should've killed me, alright... But all it really did was send me into near-death. Sent me into myself, rather...into the depths of my soul... And that was exactly what I wanted."

"...what...? Speak sense into this!" exclaimed Solaris. "What do you mean?"

"A while back... While fighting in another battle against someone who wanted to destroy all of humanity much like you, I lost conciousness...and was drifting into an endless black void... I thought I had died, really, but it soon turned out to be a near death experience and I was brought back alive afterwards. During my time in that void, I had met someone...or something. An entity, rather...and as it told me, this entity, this sphere...was the energy fusion itself. The fusion that held both the power of my Super form and the power behind my control over the wind."

Standing with Elise next to him, Sonic looked at the new white long-eared cat.

'The fusion that occurred a while back at Eggmanland...' thought Sonic.

"As it spoke to me in my thoughts," continued Klonoa. "I learned from it that, in short, it wasn't completely fused, but if it were to complete itself, I would gain much more power than before. This came at a cost, however; a cost that is now meaningless to me. So it needed to speak to me first... If it were to finish itself, I would no longer look golden yellow anymore...but white, instead.

"An argument followed afterwards... Basically, it made two promises to me. One: It would revert back to its half-fused form after I've dealt with the threats outside, so I would look golden again. But as it told me, it was a one-time thing only... And two: Should I ever face death again due to another threat, it would come back to me again...only the next time, it will be permanent, and that I could access my true power at will from then on... That's what happened, Solaris."

"...I...see..."

Klonoa nodded. "And here I was, hoping it would come back to me again like it promised...and it did after all. No, you didn't kill me, Solaris... You only just strengthened my soul."

Bringing them up, he looked down at his white hands...and clenched them, ready to go all-out with his power.

"Many have tried to destroy this world just like you, Solaris...and they all failed. Most of them were defeated by Sonic here. All those threats, thwarted by him...except for the last. That was my time to save the world, not his... If I saved this world before, if I saved all those worlds in the dream dimension before...I can do it again!"

He swiftly looked up at the bird god, gritting his teeth angrily at him.

"This ends here, Solaris!"

With his arms shaking with great power as his aura sped up...

"Here with you and my soul on displaaaay!"

...and with that angry yell, Klonoa swiftly crossed his arms in front of him, and a big boom of energy suddenly emitted from him, rocking the area a bit with its accompanying booming sound. His white aura suddenly increased in size, his long ears moved wilder, and great energy winds were now furiously emitting from him at all sides.

Knocked back by the big energy wave, Sonic, Silver, and Elise now found themselves shielding against the strong furious winds with their arms.

"What...power!" exclaimed Silver.

From where he was, Solaris watched on, sensing the cat's growing power.

"Impossible..."

Klonoa continued to power up, as the winds continued to blow with great fury.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh...!"

Still shielding himself, the blue hedgehog smiled.

"Do it, buddy! Show this birdy what you're made of!"

Finally, after a few seconds, the long-eared cat was ready to take it to the max...

"Here it is, Solaris! My true powerrrrrrrr!"

Swiftly bringing his arms down and strutting his body forward, with that loud yell, the white Super cat exploded with great, white energy, rocking the area stronger than before. The trio were knocked back far and farther away this time, with Sonic landing on his feet and sliding back, while both Silver and Elise fell on their backs and slid back on the sand.

A few seconds later, the wild feeling of it all had stopped. Silver and Elise slowly sat up, while Sonic regained his footing.

Along with Solaris, they all soon saw what was now ahead.

"Whoa..."

With his arms down and a determined frown on his face, Super Klonoa still floated above the crater. His ears were down, and his particle aura was gone; instead, his white fur was now giving off a very bright glow that appeared to be melting upwards. His eyes were light red in this true power form of his...and yet, something now appeared around his neck and shoulders: a large, red, collar-scarf, with zig-zag lines on it and with two long scarves from the back of it, extending past his feet.

With the bright, white glow that he was now giving off, the trio was awed by him.

"He's glowing..." said Silver. "He's..."

"...light itself." added Elise.

Standing straight, Sonic smiled at this.

'Light itself... Heh... Klonoa...' he thought. 'You once told me about you being the Dream Traveler; how you sleep into these dream worlds and save them from nightmares... And you told me you were gonna title yourself as the 'Golden Dreamer' when you'll first use your Super form in a dream world... I still don't understand why you suddenly changed to white, but looking at you now...since you said it was permanent...'

The glowing long-eared cat slowly put his right hand forward.

'...yeah... Now that I look at you, I'm now getting this feeling that...white fits you a LOT better than golden yellow, Klonoa. It is the opposite of black after all. Who you are... No, I think I have a better title for you, man... As bright as the stars, as bright as light itself...a dreamer who saves the worlds within... No longer golden, you are now...'

From the crater below, his deactivated Wind Saber floated up and right back into his hand again, grabbing it.

'The Dreamer of Light.'

Looking even more determined than before, Klonoa reactivated his Saber. Then, the glowing white cat floated upwards, up to where Solaris was directly ahead of him, and stopped. Putting his Saber down to his side, he then gave a cold stare at the bird god himself.

"...no...this cannot be..." said Solaris, sensing Klonoa's true power now and being shocked at it. "This cannot beeee!"

Trying to believe that this was nothing more than a mere ruse to him, a mere illusion, Solaris tried to open a large portal to the left of Klonoa, throwing a large molten rock at him, but...

"Huh?"

...the cat quickly put his left fist up, the back side of it facing the portal, and let the rock crash in on it. It exploded, but it seemingly had no effect on him!

Solaris was shocked... Quickly becoming angry, the god then opened up several portals on him and tried to fire many rocks on him at the same time...but Klonoa suddenly disappeared out of the way, and reappeared in front of the resulting smoke.

"Whoa... Talk about flashing in and out like that." said Sonic, watching.

"Ngh... No...!" exclaimed the bird god, shocked once again.

Deciding to make his move...still with a very determined look on his face, Klonoa now appeared to be taking a step forward in the air...and again...and again...until he was now slowly walking in the air, much like if he was walking on water.

"Nggh...stay back...! Stay baaaaaaack!"

In a desperate attempt to stop Klonoa from reaching his core, Solaris now suddenly opened up hundreds of portals, opening up all around the god himself this time. Hundreds of large molten rocks now came flying out of them, all of them going straight towards the Dreamer of Light.

Seeing them...the shining white Super cat tapped into his true power, and with that, a very large aura of wind now appeared around him, moving his ears and scarves wildly. When the rocks reached this aura of wind, they instantly exploded on contact. All were destroyed on contact, constantly creating smoke...as Klonoa continued to walk slowly towards Solaris.

"Whoa, he put up a shield to protect himself!" exclaimed Silver, watching it all.

"...why are you not stopping? Why?"

With his hundred-rock-barrage not affecting Klonoa at all, Solaris was losing it...

"Aaagggh! Stop in your path immediately! You cannot hope to defeat me! I am a god!"

Immediately ceasing the portals, the bird god's core, like before, started absorbing blue energy, with him shaking with great power.

Seeing him, Klonoa stopped in the air and dispersed his wind aura, preparing for what his enemy was about to unleash...

The energy absorption soon stopped...

"You are nothing but a mortaaaaaaaaaaaal!"

...and Solaris fired his huge, deadly, blue energy beam again, directly at Klonoa this time.

"Not again!" exclaimed Silver.

As the deadly beam was fast approaching him, with blue light coming over him...

"...hmph."

...Klonoa swiftly thrusted his right hand forward, and with it, stopped the deadly beam in its tracks, only a few feet away! Using his wind energy again, a mass of large wind appeared around it and were holding it back.

"What?"

Solaris couldn't believe it. Even his ultimate attack was being held back by the white cat.

After a few seconds, Klonoa then swiftly moved his right hand upwards to the sky. The wind then thrusted the beam towards the sky. Going far into the distance, it then exploded with great power as the blue light shone brightly.

It soon faded, and Klonoa resumed his very determined look on Solaris.

"...no...how can this be...? How can this beeeeeeee?" screamed Solaris, having effectively lost it. "I am a god! How can a mere mortal like you become more powerful than me?"

"...you are not a god." said Klonoa, calmly.

"What...?"

"You may think you are one, but to me, you're not... A true god is supposed to be invincible. One who is far beyond even my true power...yet, I stopped everything you threw at me. Didn't even lay a scratch on me as well... No, you're not a god. In fact, according to your history here...you are just a monster with supernatural powers that came from outer space!"

"Ngh...!"

Sonic smiled at this. "Heh. Gotta agree with that!"

"Though, you were a good monster at first." continued Klonoa. "A good guy. But the horrors of this world had changed you for the worst, leading all the way to this... At least I know that, even though they might had already fallen long ago, people can still redeem themselves. At least I know he did... But, if you are beyond redemption, beyond saving..."

The white cat slowly went into a stance with his Saber, and with that, along with his brightly glowing fur, white, shining sparkles began emitting upwards from all around him.

"...then I have no choice but to destroy you!"

Klonoa blasted off towards Solaris, with the white sparkles trailing behind him.

"...nnngggh..."

After hearing what Klonoa had to say, Solaris took a good look at the city itself...and at Elise herself down below at the beach. After some thoughts...

'...perhaps...that it was I who had been blind... Distracted... Perhaps I do deserve this after all.' he concluded within his mind.

Reaching his core, and remembering that there was a shield around it, Klonoa clenched his left fist and punched hard on the shield. Making a water rippling effect, the shield then flashed a bit, and shattered apart like glass. The core was now vulnerable.

"Time to end this, once and for all!"

Jumping back a bit, the long-eared cat positioned his Wind Saber in front of his face, holding it together with both hands and pointing it upwards, and he closed his eyes. A second later, his bright glows and white sparkles suddenly sped themselves up as he powered up, with energy winds now emitting from him, moving his ears and scarves along.

"...wow, you really look pretty, Klonoa..." said Sonic in awe of him. "Those sparkles, as well as you being bright white all over... Wow."

Silver and Elise just watched on, in awe of the shining cat as well.

Suddenly, like before, Klonoa's energy bursted wildly, with the winds increased, and his Saber now grew six feet longer with a slight increase in width this time. Its color had also changed from green to bright white.

After a second, he opened his red eyes. He was ready.

"In the name of the energies that power my very being..." he said, now with an echo effect to his voice. "Cower at it, unruly darkness, for it shall outshine you!"

With that yell, Klonoa swiftly moved his Saber away and moved forward, disappearing afterwards.

As everyone witnessed, he reappeared in front of the core and slashed it a few times before teleporting to the right and slashed it a few more times, before teleporting again...all at an insane speed! With each slash made, a flash of light occurred, getting bigger every time.

Eventually, his routine turned into a faster one-slash-and-teleport routine, doing even more crazy damage to Solaris with each and every flash of light.

"Whoa, that's insane!" exclaimed Sonic.

"Go, Klonoa!" Silver cheered on.

The long and crazy combo continued, not giving Solaris a chance to escape... He had no reason to now, for he knew that this was his end.

After finishing the last slash...

"Haaaaaaaa...! Chaotic Wiiiiiind!"

...Klonoa launched one final, very huge, very powerful slash on the front of the core, creating one huge flash of bright light. The whole of Solaris had twitched wildly, as he just suffered one massive, defeating blow to his core.

Klonoa backed up and watched what happened next.

Slowly leaning back with his arms up in the air, the golden bird god's core started flaring up with miniature explosions, and soon, explosions began flaring up all over him as well... Portions of his inner energy were now pouring out of him all over, fading into nothingness as they went away.

A bright white light soon emitted out of him, slowly blinding everyone but Klonoa, and slowly engulfing everything until it was pure white all over...

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

2:00p.m.

"...huh?"

After the bright, blinding light faded away, Klonoa, still in his true Super form with the sparkles around him, found himself standing in the princess' room of the castle... As he saw, everything was back to where they were before Mephiles crashed in, including the blue sky outside.

Seeing Elise waking up in the chair behind her desk and Silver on the floor next to her, Klonoa looked back and saw Sonic on the couch, waking up as well.

"Ugh...man, talk about crashing out again." the blue hedgehog said. "Huh? Hey, we're..."

"...back in the castle...?" Silver said, standing up and looking around.

"Ohh... Was it...all just a dream?" asked Elise.

"...no... Look what's on the desk now." said the white cat.

"Huh?"

On Elise's desk in front of her, a brightly-lit candle with a white, singular flame was seen, sitting on top of what looked like a blue, transcluent bowl.

Both Elise and Silver recognized it, surprising them.

"That's..."

"The Flame of Hope." said Elise.

"What...? You mean...?" asked Klonoa.

Sonic walked up to Klonoa's right. "The Flame of Hope...? Isn't this just a piece of him? That must mean you must've destroyed him for good, Klonoa! ...well, most of him, anyway. But his mind is gone, right?"

Remembering what Solaris said to him earlier, Klonoa shook his head.

"No...Solaris is still alive. I only destroyed his body by damaging his core..."

"Huh?"

"What do you mean?" asked Silver.

"Right before we battled, when you guys were still out cold, Solaris told me that he didn't depart this world when he made this city." replied the cat. "He never did. He chose to remain here...in the form of this flame here."

"What...?" Elise looked down at the flame. "He...never left?"

"Yes."

Powering all the way back down to his normal black self, with the dispersing of his collar scarf, Klonoa walked up to the desk as he deactivated his Saber and put it away inside of him.

"Believe it or not," he said. "Solaris was with you this whole entire time... He said he chose to remain here, to see if there were more people that needed his help. But unfortunately, throughout time, the dark side of this world had greatly bothered him so much that it caused him to act like he did...and his need to destroy the world was only fueled further by your father's project to contact him."

"...which split his mind and body apart from each other when the project conducted." added Silver. "I see now... Darn."

"...Solaris was here this whole time..." said Elise, staring at the flame.

"Yeah... I guess, then, that I reduced him into this form when I damaged his core so much..." Klonoa said. "And that it restored things back to the way they were before his mind showed up and attacked us."

"Hmm... So...what are we going to do with him now?" asked Sonic.

Just then...

"Klonoa... I thank you."

"Huh...?"

They all heard a low, deep voice coming from the flame.

"Solaris...?" asked Klonoa.

"Yes, it is me... I thank you."

"...for what?"

"For making me realize... For making me remember...what it was like, to love."

"To love?"

"Yes... What you said about me about not being a true god...perhaps it is true that I am not one after all... What you said made me think. Made me ponder. Made me...remember..."

"Remember? Please, explain." said Elise.

"When I created this city long ago, and brought those people here...I remember that I displayed unconditional love to them. I helped them adapt to this place, I brought them food, I helped them learn...and as a result, they created a religion towards me, believing that I was a god to them, that I brought them salvation... That was when I first believed that I was a god.

"And thus, life goes on." he continued. "Though no one knew it, I stayed with my people here, loving them just as they loved me through worship... It was only until I decided to look at the rest of the world through this long period of time...that I began to fall into darkness...that I would begin to forget, the very notion of love... Everything has a dark side to them, and I am no exception."

"...hmm, true... Everything has a dark side." said Klonoa. He then smiled. "But, resisting the darkness is what keeps us alive in the end. What keeps the love going on inside us."

"That is true as well...and for that, I was a fool to let it happen to me... I was a fool to think that this world needed to end... I am deeply sorry for believing so."

Smiling at it, Klonoa picked up the transcluent bowl and brought the white flame to his face.

"That's alright, Solaris. Everybody makes mistakes like that. We all do, really. But we can learn from them as well, in order to not repeat them again in the future."

"...perhaps that is so... But I believe, in order to prevent mine from occuring again, that I should not be allowed to exist anymore."

"Huh...?" Klonoa's smile faded away at this.

"Solaris..." said Elise, feeling a bit alarmed after hearing it all.

"I am a being of great power. Should I fall into darkness again, I will be the same as before, blindly unleashing such terrible destruction on the world... I do not want that to happen again... But...ultimately...since I have lost much of my power thanks to you, Klonoa, and that it will take some time to regain that power...I shall leave my fate in your hands."

"Uh...! Hmm..."

Knowing that they could wipe Solaris out from existance just with a simple blowing of the flame and extinguishing it, Klonoa hesitated...

"Hey...I have great power within me as well." Klonoa said. "But you don't see me falling easily to the dark side as well, do you?"

"...I suppose not... But a thousand years will do that to you... But then, perhaps I focused on it more than neccssary..."

"Hmm... Well..."

Thinking further, the cat then looked at Elise, and then back at the flame.

"...since you say its up to me whether to keep you alive or not... No, I will not be the one to decide your fate. I think its better that I leave your fate in the hands of the royal family here, who you entrusted yourself with... Elise?"

The cat handed the flame over to the princess, surprising her a bit... Thinking about it...she then put the bowl in her hands.

"Solaris... The Eternal Sun. The Living Flame of Hope, entrusted to us... Even though you lost the battle against us, even though you committed such destruction to the city...in the end, you still show signs of goodness within you." she said. "You still remember well, even after such a millenia... And for that, it is by my decision that you shall remain...alive.

"Klonoa, a great hero he is, may have surpassed you in power...but you... You are still a god to us." she continued. "To this day, the people of Soleanna still worship you as one. They still look to you as a symbol of hope, a symbol of love...and that is what keeps them going... As much as you want to erase yourself away, our people stlll need you, Eternal Sun."

"I see... Very well, then, Princess." replied the flame.

Klonoa smiled at this, while Sonic grinned.

"Welp, looks like you're stuck here, old bird." Sonic said.

"One thing, though." said Silver. "Even though everything is back to normal now, the people of the city have most definitely seen your battle with Klonoa earlier... How are we going to explain that to them?"

"...let them know the truth." replied Solaris. "Let them know everything. I believe it will only strengthen our religion, not deteriorate it."

"Seriously?"

"Yes..."

"...hmm. If that's what you want..."

"...then it's what we'll do." said Elise. "We will heed by it."

"...hm... Alright, then."

Just then, Sonic remembered something.

"Oh, that's right...! What have you done with the Chaos Emeralds, Solaris? Where are they?" he asked.

"...for some reason unknown to me, when Klonoa defeated me, the Chaos Emeralds dispersed and scattered away from each other... I do not know how far." the flame replied.

"Scattered...? Then... Ah, great."

Sonic made a disappointing look on his face.

"Huh? Scattered?" Klonoa asked, looking at him.

"So it applies to everyone who first uses them directly... Except for you, Klonoa... I'll explain later after this is over."

"Hm, okay..."

"Klonoa..." called Elise.

"Yeah?"

She slowly closed her eyes. "On behalf of everyone here in Soleanna, on behalf of Solaris... Thank you...for saving us all, and the world once again."

The princess bowed slightly down to him, still holding the flame in her hands.

At this, the long-eared cat smiled happily and swiftly gave a thumbs-up to her, chuckling happily as well.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

All's well that ends well. Everything, including what happened ten years ago, was finally explained to the people of Soleanna. Though some were disturbed...in the end, they all proudly embraced in the love of their deity, who continued to reside within the castle's dark chamber where he was originally kept in.

A new era of peace now loomed over the city.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

"The White Hero"

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Later that same day... 4:00p.m. Apotos, Tails' Workshop

"So they scattered all over the world again, huh?"

"So it would seem."

Two hours after their trip to Soleanna, Sonic and Klonoa returned to the nation of Apotos, back to Windmill Isle. On the way there, the blue hedgehog explained everything to the cat.

Now Sonic had just finished explaining to Tails what happened earlier in Soleanna; the two of them standing in front of the supercomputer.

"It's just like the first seven times when I used them: they would scatter all over the world each time I'm done with them..." said Sonic. "It was only until the eighth time that they stopped scattering and just bonded with me."

"Right... So it looks like its applied to everyone else, then." said Tails. "They would have to use them seven times first before they bond with them."

"Yeah... Well, everyone, except for him."

Smiling, Sonic looked to his right. Near the life-sized mirror, there lay Klonoa on a small blue mattress, sleeping soundly as ever with his hands at the back of his head. All of his accessories were back on, including his hat.

"Yeah. Like I said before, he's a special case." said the fox.

"Yep... If it wasn't for his wind energy... Man. Now he's a bigger hero than me, even though he's only saved the world twice."

Sonic turned and walked over to Klonoa.

"Although, I'm still not entirely sure why his Super form suddenly changed to white now... Guess he'll tell us now."

Feeling his presence and hearing him, Klonoa woke up and looked at him to his left.

"You want to know now, huh?"

"Certainly."

Getting up from the bed, the cat now stood up on the floor.

"I guess its time to tell you, then."

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Over the next few minutes, Klonoa told everything about his two experiences inside of himself; of how the sphere offered him power, of how he wanted to keep his golden look...everything.

"Huh...very interesting." said Tails, intrigued. "The two energies that fused within you actually became a living entity..."

"Well, you could put it that way, Tails." Klonoa said.

"Hmm... So, it looks like we share the same thoughts, man." said Sonic. "White really DOES fit you better as a Super form. Since it IS the opposite of black and all... It makes you stand out more."

"Yeah." the cat nodded. "As much as I love being golden yellow like you, Sonic..."

Turning around to face the mirror...as his bangs slowly spiked up, Klonoa then transformed in a quick flash, with no aura around him. He took a good look at himself in the mirror, looking all over his new white self.

"...yeah, this really is better for me... Better than being golden. Since the winds are often associated with the color of white and all..."

"Yeah, gotta agree with that." said Sonic.

"...whoa. You really do look more awesome like that, Klonoa!" exclaimed the fox, seeing him now. "And those red eyes really compliment it as well."

"Yeah, that too... Although, shouldn't they still be blue?"

"Oh...! Um...that's a good question." the cat said.

Looking at his eyes, Klonoa wondered about it...

"...yeah, that is weird... Maybe they're supposed to be red all this time?"

"Probably... In any case, though, the red really does fit in with the white." said Sonic.

"Yeah... Hm. Well, anyway..."

The white cat turned around and faced them, smiling.

"What we said earlier... Man, I still remember the very first day we met, Sonic... How I admired you being a great hero and all. It was because of you that I wanted to stay golden in the first place... Now I've grown to be a great hero of this world myself, Sonic. Now I'm in your shoes, and because of that, it's made me who I am now. It made me gain a public identity of my own now, I guess...and me becoming white, instead of golden, now only further supports that, to separate you and me apart from each other."

Sonic chuckled. "I guess."

"Mm-hmm. But...you know, if I hadn't met you in the first place..."

"...I know. Be thankful that you did."

Moving over to Klonoa's right, the hedgehog put his left arm around the cat's back, slightly hugging him.

"Just be thankful."

"Yeah... Heh!"

Patting him a bit, he let him go. Klonoa walked over to the center of the area and stood there.

"So what are you gonna do now, Mr. White Super Klonoa?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, now that you've saved the world again from a giant monster who thought he was a god and all..." said Sonic.

"He's still a god. To his people, that is. That's all it matters." replied Klonoa. "As for me..."

He looked back at them, smiling.

"I gotta go back to Empire City and tell Danny that my errand is done. I did deliver that pizza to his friend after all."

"Oh yeah, right. You did after all..." Sonic said. "Well, alright, then. Later, Klonoa."

"Yeah. See you later!" exclaimed Tails, waving goodbye.

Nodding, the white long-eared cat then walked off to the door, opening it and closing it behind him.

Since it was late in the afternoon, the partly cloudy sky was tinted with a bright orange sky all over... Powering up with his white particle aura, Super Klonoa blasted off to the sky, and then towards the sunset, with his aura of light trailing behind him as he flew into the sunset.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

The End.


End file.
